Lady Penelope
by GrumpyBadger13
Summary: Penelope 'Penny' Green was taken from her home by S.H.I.E.L.D, but why? Penny's past is quickly catching up with her, and the Avengers plan to protect her from it. But how long can one person stay hidden in the technological 21st Century? Of course, Bruce Banner knows all about staying hidden. Bruce/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**New story, cause there isn't enough Banner love out there. Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and Penny, all other rights go to their lucky rightful owner which is Marvel.**

Penelope 'Penny' Green was not a happy worker. Her day hadn't been the best start to what was sure to be a hectic and stressful week aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier, her mission to find out why she had been taken aboard in the first place had failed; so far anyway. It'd been about 9 days since she had walked on solid land and to be honest, she really missed it.

"Miss Green!" She snapped out of her day dream and sat up straight in her swivel chair and peered at the angry agent over her glasses. "Yes?" She answered timidly, the light haired agent sighed and gave a small smile.

"Director Fury would like you to attend the meeting upstairs, and if I were you I'd head there now." His hands folded behind his back as he stared the small woman down. Penny quickly looked away as a grin spread across her face, "Why should I rush? He hasn't given me _any_ of the answers I was promised, the most important being why I'm here and not at home with my big fat cat. So why should I continue doing what he wants me to do?" The agent opened his mouth to speak but soon shut it again as soon as it became apparent she wasn't finished. "Furthermore, Brian is probably sat at home all by herself sulking because nobody's given her any love for the past nine days."

When she didn't receive a reply she looked over at the agent, who seemed to be silently laughing at her rant. "Well Miss Green, if you were to hurry to the meeting then that might just be revealed…Hint, hint, wink, wink." He smiled, winking as he did so. Penny stood up from her slumped position and ran through the door, running back in she squinted at the agents name tag. "I knew there was a reason I liked you Fletcher!" He gave a deep laugh as she sped off down the corridor, her curly auburn hair flying out behind her.

* * *

"I'm here!" Penny shouted as she burst through the door, only to be greeted with seven amused stares. "And who, may I ask, is this lovely lady?" Tony Stark, the most famous and well known of the group asked as he walked over. "Miss Green," Fury started.

"Penelope Green, although almost everyone calls me Penny." She smiled warmly at him, her hand outstretched for a handshake. "Anthony Stark, although almost everyone calls me Tony." He smirked, copying her completely.

"_Miss Green!_" Penny snapped her head around to Fury as she pulled her hand back from Stark, "Uhh, Yes? Director?" She smiled shyly, her hand falling back into place at her side. "Miss Green, please take a seat." She nodded and sat down in a seat in-between Tony and a man with wire rimmed glasses and dark hair that was slightly speckled with grey around the edges.

"Good, now everyone's here we can start." His one good eye glanced over at a buff man with short, styled blonde hair and a tight navy blue tee shirt that stretched over his muscles.

"So Thor, what's his play?" The man started before folding his hands on the table in front of him attentively. Penny took in the people around her for the first time; she only knew three, technically four if you counted Stark. Director Fury stood at the front with Coulson and Maria Hill to either side, all three looked observant, like they were looking for something. Maria quickly turned to a worker who needed her attention.

Seated around the table was a variety of people. Agent Romanoff sat quietly with an empty seat next to her, and next to the empty seat sat a buff blonde guy in a navy tee, his attention still focused on the man at the front. The man at the front, who she guessed to be Thor, wore some kind of metal armour, his long blonde hair covered the majority of his face, but it was plain to see that he was a bit of a fitness freak; his arms looked like they were about to take on a life of their own and start talking for him.

Tony Stark had his trademark facial hair and his dark birds nest of a hairdo, he donned a Black Sabbath tee as he fiddled about with a pen on the table. The light, circular glow emitting from the centre of his chest gave absolute plausibility to the Iron Man alias that he had publically made. Sat on the other side of Penny was the man in the wire rimmed glasses, his short but slightly curly hair was speckled with grey. He wore a smart purple shirt that had been rolled up to his elbows, and had what looked to be a cross between a heart rate monitor and a watch strapped to his left wrist.

"He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thors deep voice boomed around the room as he turned around to face the blonde man.

He looked around at the people in the room, "An army. From outer space." His head swayed from side to side as he took the information in. Penny couldn't help but wonder if she was in the right meeting, surely none of this pertained to her?

The man sat next to Penny shuffled in his seat, "So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." His voice was surprisingly soft and gentle, he took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. Thor snapped around to face him. "Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist." He replied, replacing the glasses. "He's a friend." Came his worried reply, his hand flicked up to his bearded chin as he stroked it in thought.

"Excuse me?" Penny held her hand up, much like a child would do in school. "Did you just raise your hand?" Tony smirked at her, narrowing her eyes she playfully stuck her tongue out at him. "Miss Green if you could just listen first, answers will be given at the end." The director droned, she huffed as she sank back in her seat as she felt a slight blush creep up her neck.

Natasha glanced over at Penny before carrying on with the previous conversation, "Loki has them under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours." She trailed off, looking to the side sadly.

Mr Buff seemed to have recovered from his shock as his head snapped between the on – going conversation, " I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." There was that name again, _'Loki'._

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can _smell_ crazy on him." The dry humour could be heard in the voice of the man to right, Thor's head whipped around to face him, fury evident on his face.

"Have a care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he is my brother!" He shouted slightly before pointing his finger at the poor man, "He killed eighty people in two days." Penny quickly placed her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. Thors face calmed as he lowered his finger and crossed his arms once again, "He's adopted." He admitted quietly.

"Aren't you going to play host Fury?" Stark quickly changed the subject, his gaze turning from Fury to Penny. "She has no _clue_ what's going on does she? Does she even know who the people in this room are?" His arms were flailing about as Penny sunk lower into her seat, not liking the curious looks she was getting from the majority of the people in the room. "No Stark, she doesn't know." Fury's voice was filled with sadness as he stared at Penny thoughtfully.

"Introductions!" Tony beamed as he pushed his chair back and stood up, pulling Penny up by her arm gently. "Okay sweet cheeks, the dude at the front with the amazingly femininely coiffed hair is Point Break –" He grinned before correcting himself, "I mean Thor. You know God of Thunder, Norse mythology and all that _jazz." _Penny smiled as the Norse God took a step towards her, ignoring Tony completely.

"Lady Penelope," Thor pulled Penny's hand to his lips and placed a chaste kiss to her knuckles. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He released her hand as she blushed furiously, "It's nice to meet you too, Thor." He beamed and nodded, Tony turned her to face the red headed deadly spy.

"That obviously happy woman is Nata –"

"We already know each other Stark." She breathed before studying her cuticles. "Can you feel the love?" He whispered before turning to Mr Buff. "This annoyingly handsome gentleman is Steve Rogers, a.k.a, Captain America. He's probably about, what?" He glanced over at the embarrassed man before continuing, smirking as he did so. "I'd say he's probably about 90, and _still _a virgin. Although he was frozen as a Capsicle for nearly 70 years, so I _guess_ he has an excuse." The blush on Penny's face almost matched Steve's; the key word being almost. Penny gave a small wave which he returned before sinking back into his seat slightly.

They spun to face the man who was sat at Penny's left, "And last but certainly not least, is Dr Bruce Banner." Tony spoke with slight pride as Bruce pushed his chair back and stood up to face them, holding his hand out, Penny took it and shook it gently. "Hi, it's nice to meet you Penelope –"

"Penny." She smiled as he released her hand. "Penny," he corrected, a smile creeping on his face that made his deep brown eyes wrinkle slightly. "So how did you get dragged into this? If you don't mind me asking that is…" He trailed off, a light blush creeping on his cheeks as everyone sat down once again.

Penny grinned, "Good question Doctor,"

"Bruce." He smiled down at his hands, a small smile appearing on Penny's face too. "_Bruce." _She corrected the smile clearly evident in her voice. "So director, why _am_ I here? Because I for one have no idea. What's it been now, 9 days?" She glanced over at the tall man while she stood up and started pacing. "So why am I here? It's certainly not for the same reason as everyone else is, because I _certainly _don't have anything special about me. I mean –"

"But that's where you're wrong Miss Green." She snapped round to face the eye patched man, confusion written on her lightly freckled face. "Excuse me?"

"Why don't you take a seat Miss Green, and I'll be sure to give you the explanation you've been waiting for." Fury smiled but it didn't reach his eyes, as he gestured back to Penny's seat in-between Tony and Bruce. She nodded as she slowly sank back into the swivel chair.

"You are aware of the disappearance of Dr Henson, I assume?" She was, John Henson had disappeared only three days before Penny had been taken from her home by S.H.I.E.L.D, they had worked together on her first project since graduating from University. He had been her confidant, her friend; a father figure.

"Yes, it was a bit of a clue when he didn't turn up to the destroyed lab the next day." She replied sarcastically, Fury nodded. "I'm aware that the two of you were working on a project," Penny visibly stiffened; this didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group, mostly Tony and Bruce who exchanged a quick glance. "A project that attempted to re-create the super soldier serum. Though, it didn't quite go your way, _did it?"_ His gaze pierced into Penny as she visibly cringed.

"I was an assistant, Director, as you very well know. The project was entirely Dr Henso-"

"But it wasn't was it?" He slammed his fists down on the table as he shouted. "And now Dr Henson has been ki-"

"DON'T!" Penny shouted as she stood up, her palms down on the table as she visibly shook from the adrenaline pumping through her veins. "Don't…" She repeated quieter as she stood upright, blinking the tears away at the thought of her friend being killed because of her.

"Well, why don't you explain then Miss Green." Fury stated as he sat in the larger swivel chair at the front. Penny looked around before focusing in her clasped hands in front of her.

"Me and Dr Henson started a project. It was based off of the Super Soldier Serum that was used to create Captain America," She gestured to Steve and sighed before continuing, "we called it Extremis."

**Review and let me know what you think? :3**

**-Readers assemble!- **


	2. Chapter 2

"Where do I start?" Penny mumbled, her fingers lightly tapping her chin while her other arm rested across her body. "Okay, Dr Hensen hired me and we started working in the same lab, I started my project and he started his. Simple as that. Well, for a few years anyway." She sat back down in her seat and crossed her legs.

"I was working on reprogramming the repair system at the centre of the brain in a rented lab in Harlem, it wasn't much but it did its job. Until it got smashed to pieces that was…" She trailed off, remembering turning up to work to find the majority of the neighbourhood had been completely destroyed.

"Sorry about that." Bruce mumbled to her right, "Sorry?" She asked confused. "Why would you be sorry?"

Bruce peered at her from behind his glasses, she had no idea about the other guy. No idea that the other guy was a part of him. "I kind of – I mean, It was, um…" He glanced at Tony who nodded before scratching the back of his neck slyly. "I destroyed your lab." Bruce said plainly.

Penny's whole body swivelled towards the shy doctor as he prepared himself to cringe at the words that were about to fall from her lips. He wasn't however, expecting to hear the words that she spoke instead. "You don't have to be sorry Bruce, I know it was you. You're the guy that did the experiment on himself, I know. It's okay though, you kinda helped." She smiled while Bruce looked on in shock.

"Well, not that I suppose you had a pleasant night from the looks of it, but it helped. We got a new lab in central New York and better funding." She finished before turning back to the table, not seeing the hint of a smile on the two genius' lips.

"Right, so when we got transferred to the new lab in New York, Dr Henson and I decided to start a new project. This is where Steve here comes in." She grinned over at him, "Dr Henson had always known of Captain America and filled me in on the story of how he brought his grandson a Captain America outfit for his 8th birthday. Later on in the lab is when we came up with the idea of Extremis." The smile dropped from her face, if she hadn't started the project then he would still be here, alive. And she would be perfectly comfy at home eating mac 'n' cheese with her cat.

"So what _is _Extremis?" Asked Tony as he reclined back in his chair, hands folded behind his head. Penny focused on the mink nail varnish on her fingernails.

"My approach to the problem of the Super Soldier Serum was to exploit the genetic potential of man through nano-tech and in this vain I eventually developed Extremis. Extremis was meant to 'hack' into the body's repair centre and recode the human genes with a more advanced version, leaving the host with improved organs and super powers."

The majority of the men in the room were pleasantly surprised at the young woman before them. Steve couldn't help but think that she was a very clever woman, possible as clever as Stark or Banner. Not to mention how much her defiance to Fury reminded him of his Peggy. Thor however was slightly lost as to what she was talking about, he knew that she developed something to improve humans, but was otherwise lost as to what Extremis actually was.

Bruce listened attentively and found what she had accomplished to be astounding. She was fairly young, he observed, about 25. Her hair curled slightly as it reached her mid back and was coloured a ginger – auburn colour, freckles were sprinkled across her nose where her glasses sat at the end of it. Behind the glasses sat forest green, almond shaped eyes that were focused on a spot on the table.

"Go on," Fury encouraged, seeing that she was lost in days gone by.

"Sorry…Err, Extremis is a kind of techno organic virus that completely rewrites the body's genetic code. It replaces entire organs making them more efficient. The original extremis grants super human strength, speed, endurance…"

Steve's ears perked up as he began to understand what she was talking about, "This sounds an awful lot like what I was injected with. How did you manage to perfect it? Dr Erskine was the only one who knew the formula – It never got written down before he was killed." He rushed, as far as he was aware he was the only person that had successfully produced a Super Soldier. Did Hydra know the formula?

Penny smiled slightly as she pushed her glasses up her nose, "It is, and it took _a lot _of trial and error." Steve opened his mouth to speak but Penny quickly beat him to it, "And no, we didn't test it on people." She smiled at him.

Steve was confused that was for sure, "Then how…?" He trailed off, his hand scratching his head.

"How did we test it? We ran simulations in the computer to see what would happen if we _did _use it. As far as I know, no one's been injected with it yet." Her gaze flicked to Fury, "Of course, the enhanced formula had some modifications done to it. For one, the host would have the ability to project electricity and the ability to produce a kind of shield, like a force field. But that's only what _we_ programmed it to do, if someone were to get their hands on it and figure out how it works, then they could programme it do affect the host in _any way_ they want. They could make them grow three heads, breath fire and be fury if that's what they wanted." Penny finished, her voice turning slightly high pitched at the end.

"It could make someone into a fury, three headed, fire breathing being?" Stark concluded jokingly, Penny smiled at the man. "Not quite I don't think," She giggled slightly, "But you get the idea, right?" Tony nodded before sitting forward and tapping the table.

"I'm having a hard time following here," Natasha started, Steve and Thor nodding in agreement. Penny nodded and blushed, "I guess I haven't really explained it very well huh?"

"All in all Extremis is...Extremis is a super-soldier solution. It's a bio-electronics package, fitted into a few billion graphite nanotubes and suspended in a carrier fluid. A magic bullet, like the original super-soldier serum—all fitted into a single injection. It hacks the body's repair centre—the part of the brain that keeps a complete blue print of the human body. When we're injured, we refer to that area of the brain to heal properly. Extremis rewrites the repair centre. In the first stage, the body essentially becomes an open wound. The normal human blueprint is being replaced with the Extremis blueprint, you see? The brain is being told the body is wrong. Extremis protocol dictates that the subject be placed on life support and intravenously fed nutrients at this point. For the next two or three days, the patient remains unconscious within a cocoon of scabs. Extremis uses the nutrients and body mass to grow new organs. Better ones..."

"Thank you Miss Green," Fury stood up from his seat and placed his hands behind his back. "Now you all know the story. So let's get down to business here -"

"Director! We've got a 70% match on Loki! 83%, 94% director!" A man from the control room yelled, Penny sat up in her chair, as did everyone else. Fury and Hill strode over to the man and talked quietly and quickly before returning to the table.

"Miss Green I apologize but I'm afraid the answers as to why you're here will have to wait." Penny nodded and sunk backwards slightly, "As for the rest of you, I'm sure you heard that we have a match on Loki?" They nodded and said 'Yes, sir' in perfect unison.

Fury nodded once again, "Gentlemen, you're up."

* * *

Steve, Tony, Thor and Natasha had gone on the mission to Germany while Penny was tasked with helping Bruce in the lab. She was still unaware and confused as to what a 'Loki' was, and she certainly hadn't gotten the answers as to why she was there.

She looked over to the doctor, he was currently pottering about the lab, placing items here and there as he set up his work place. Penny hopped up on an empty work surface and pulled a blackberry lollypop from her jacket pocket.

"So what _is _a Loki?" She asked, studying the lollypop before looking over to Bruce. His head snapped up at the sound of her voice, since he was the only person in the room with her, so he assumed she was talking to him. This didn't, however, stop him from pointing lamely at himself and mouthing the word 'Me?'

This earned a lyrical giggled from Penny, "Who else would I be talking to?" Her eyes creased in the corners as she smiled over at him.

"Sorry," He began as he carried on setting up his work space, "Not use to having someone to talk to I guess." He studied her quietly while she ate her lollipop, he placed the screwdriver down on the surface and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Calcutta was pretty well removed…" He trailed off, looking at the screen to the left of him.

"So?" She prodded; Bruce placed his glasses back on his nose. "So…?" He repeated.

"What's a Loki?" She asked again, jumping down and throwing the lollipop stick in the bin. She missed and huffed before bending down and putting it in herself. Bruce pulled up the video he was shown when he first asked the same question.

"Here," He gestured to the screen, Penny walked over to stand beside Bruce as he clicked the play button on the film. It showed the footage from the New Mexico encounter and any known footage they had of him. Penny's hand flew up to her mouth when she saw the destruction he left on the tape, and seeing Thor in action with his hammer. She couldn't believe that it was Loki – Thors brother – that caused all that trouble she heard about on the news.

Bruce however was having another problem. Penny was stood extremely close to him; after all, it was only a small screen. He could feel his heart rate speed up at the closeness, could smell her perfume and hear her breathing lightly as she gasped when the giant metal warrior totalled a café.  
He quickly turned away and busied himself at another work station, leaving her to watch the remainder of the film alone. He needed a moment of distance; he hadn't been that close to a woman that wasn't in need of treatment in years, hopefully it didn't show too much.

"So Loki is Thors adoptive brother," Bruce nodded, not knowing if she was looking at him or not. "And he's the one that the guys have gone out to _collect?_" He nodded again, spinning to face her.

She had one hand lightly resting on the table, "Why aren't you with them?" She asked suddenly, quickly covering her mouth as her eyes grew wide, Bruce laughed at her horrified expression. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to sound rude! I – I just meant…"Bruce shook his head as she covered her whole face with her hands.

"Don't worry about it," She peaked at him through her fingers, "It's fine really."

"I'm only here to locate the Tesseract. No suiting up for me." He walked over to stand next to her as she slowly removed her hands. "Tesseract…?"

Bruce smiled again; he was doing that a lot today he realised. "They really didn't give you any information did they?" She shook her head, a small smile creeping on both their faces. He nodded and looked at the clock before turning around to face Penny again. "I guess we'll just have to fill in the blank spots then," Penny smiled brightly. "First though, there's one thing I need to do." She nodded as he started up a laptop.

* * *

"This is really amazing stuff," Bruce mumbled, just loud enough for Penny to hear him. She looked over at him questioningly, "What is?" She jumped back up on the counter top.

Bruce looked up from the computer and over to Penny, "Your papers on Extremis," She blushed and looked at the clouds floating by outside the window. "Although, it says here that these papers were published by 'Dr John Hensen'. Your name isn't on here…How come?" He shut the lid to computer and wandered over to lean against the countertop opposite Penny's.

Penny knew if she told him why she didn't have her name on the papers she'd sound ridiculous and childish. She just shook her head and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear instead. "Oh come on, I bet the reason can't be that bad." She smiled up at him through her eyelashes before glancing around one last time before her green eyes settled on his brown ones.

"You have to _promise_ you won't laugh. Deal?" She held her hand out; Bruce glanced at her hand before uncrossing his arms and nodding at her, "Deal." They shook hands as she grinned.

"Because science is a man's world isn't it? I mean, how many successful female scientists do you know?" He quirked an eyebrow, she had a point. "So I figured I'd write it and just put Johns name instead of mine, he was fine with it of course." She finished, as Bruce's hands fiddled with the skin around his thumbs.

"Yeah but why?" He prodded, uncrossing his arms he waved his hands about for emphasis. "_Why? _What you accomplished was amazing! You'd get recognition for it regardless of, well…You know._" _

She looked over at him, he genuinely wanted to know. Penny sighed, "Because they're never going to know me if they don't want to just shake my hand."

She looked down shyly at her hands in her lap when Bruce didn't give a reply. He knew she was right of course; a young attractive woman like Penny would always have it hard in the field; regardless of what she did.

Her eyebrows were creased in thought as she picked at the skin around her nails, something they both do Bruce noted. He pushed away from the countertop and stood in front of the pretty woman.

Penny looked up at Bruce, who was now stood in front of her. He held his hand out, which she looked at in confusion. "Bruce?"

"Congratulations Penny, on everything you've accomplished." She grinned and took his hand, he smiled. He wandered over to fiddle with something on a moveable screen before he found his gaze floating back over to Penny.

**Thoughts? Like it? Hate it? Let me know!  
**

**Also I'd like to thank ThisLoveHasNoCeiling, sashaxh, Nausicaa of the Spirits and the anonymous reviewer for reviewing, subbing and favouriting! :)**

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I realised I made a bit of a mistake in the last chapter, I know Thor isn't meant to be there until **_**after**_ **they caught Loki, and then that meeting happens afterwards. But I got mixed up Sorry if that annoys any of you, but it works better for how I plan this story to go :) Anyway, enjoy!**

"So what did I miss?" Tony opened the door to the lab and strolled in, immediately walking to Bruce's side to see what he was working on. Bruce smiled at the eccentric man as they began to mumble to themselves.

Penny was laid on her back on the counter top, staring at the ceiling. Her sleep last night hadn't been a good one, someone had woke her up countless times with their snoring; she had a hunch it was Thor.

She was lost in her own little world, a world where she had a magical wand and she attended a magical school called Hogwarts, had magical friends and could apparate into Honeydukes for a nice warm Butterbeer.

She rolled onto her side and craned her neck to see the two happily talking amongst themselves; then she noticed it. She slowly sat up and placed her glasses atop her head, smoothing the knots in the ends out with her fingertips. There was a package in Tony's hand.

"Oh, hey red, didn't see you there. _Miss me_?" He smirked as he placed his jacket down on a chair.

Penny ignored him and saw an opportunity. "Oh Tony, we've only just met! You didn't have to get me a present, we haven't even had our first date yet." She smiled sweetly at him as she hopped down off the surface, throwing another lollipop stick in the bin she carried on with her teasing. "Buying me presents won't get me into bed any faster you know, I'm a 'take things slow' kind of girl; although I'll happily still take the present." She grinned as she walked over to him. He held it over his head with the other hand stretched out in front of him.

"As much as I'm sure I'd enjoy all the little escapades we'd end up in, I'm taken." He narrowed his eyes at the scheming girl in front of him. "_Happily _taken, may I add. And this present is actually for Bruce," He handed Bruce the package, "I'm sure _Brucey_ here wouldn't hesitate in showing you a good time though." Tony grinned as he patted the beet red Bruce on the back before pulling blueberries from his jacket pocket.

Penny could feel the blush crawl up her neck, she walked back over to her table, mumbling as she went. "You say something, red?" Tony grinned as he popped another blueberry in his open mouth. Penny spun around and pouted at him, "Nope…" She carried on walking before spinning back around, this time with a mean look in her eye. "Actually Yeah! I thought that _maybe_ in the nine days I've been here I would get _one_ item of luxury! Just one!" Tony glanced at Bruce with a large grin on his face, Bruce too had a small smile fixed on his face.

"What kind of luxury would you like? Uncle Tony will get it for you." He teased in a baby voice, but Penny only grew more annoyed. "Or, like I said before, maybe _Bruce _here could settle your need for luxury." He added onto the end slyly.

"BRIAN!" She shouted suddenly, the smile slowly dropped from both of their faces. Tony had to admit, he was a little disappointed. Was Brian her boyfriend or something back home? He was looking forward to playing a bit of cupid for her and Bruce. He looked over at said man, his eyes were focused on the task as hand, but his brow furrowed and his mouth was set in a hard line. Tony's frowned deepened as he looked back at the frazzled woman.

Tony's smirk returned as a façade, "Aww is someone missing their bo?" Tony teased, and Penny's face was a picture. Albeit it wasn't what he expected, but it was just as entertaining.

"_Bo?" _She asked, disgust dripping from the word. She made a gagging sound and looked from Tony to Bruce. Tony saw his friends head snap up and look to the small girl, the realisation of what her outburst sounded like hit her as she started to laugh hysterically.

"Oh dear," She said as her laughter calmed to the mild giggles, Bruce couldn't help but think that she had a beautiful laugh, and the way her cheeks were flushed afterwards only added to the thought.

Penny looked between the two Avengers, "Brian is my cat." She stated simply.

Bruce was the first to smile, and nervously laughed when he found himself feeling relieved that she only wanted her cat, and not her non-existent boyfriend. Tony, being the genius that he is, caught on to Bruce's behaviour. The smile, the nervous laughter at the revelation; he couldn't hide it. Not from Tony anyway.

"So you miss your cat?" Tony laughed before turning to a hanging screen, "Yes. But she's my big fat, mac n cheese eating cat who likes to fall asleep on my leg which usually makes my leg fall asleep too. And she does this thing that –"

"Hold up, hold up." Penny stopped her rant and looked to Tony, "Did you just say _She?" _ He asked incredulously, "Brian is a _boy, _name sweetheart. Not a girl's name." Penny frowned.

"So? Brian is a handsome name. And she's a handsome cat." She held her head high and started Tony down, her pride wavered when she glanced at Bruce. "Fine, okay! I thought Brian was a boy, but it turns out she was a girl and I already had her trained. There, happy now?" She sighed and stamped her foot as Tony began to laugh manically again; sticking her tongue out for good measure at him she turned to Bruce, who was just smiling slightly at her and Tony's antics. She smiled back and blushed furiously.

Tony's laughter stopped suddenly, "Did you just stamp your foot?"

Penny raised an eyebrow, "Did you just quote Twilight?"

The lab door opened as Agent Coulson poked his head in, "Agent Romanoff has gone down to interrogate Loki, the Director would like you all on the bridge to watch it on CCTV." He smiled before retreating and closing the door again.

* * *

We were all seated around the large round table, Natasha sat in the seat next to the director and Thor stood to her immediate left. Bruce stood behind Tony and Penny who had taken seats next to each other, he rested a hand on the back of each of their chairs. Steve was seated two spaces down from Penny. Each had a small screen showing the CCTV from Loki's cell, Penny had to admit, it was a bit excessive.

Fury appeared on the screen, he pressed a few buttons on a touch pad and the floor beneath the cage that held Loki disappeared. Loki cautiously peered down at it. The director gestured to Loki, "Ant," before turning back to the control pad, "boot."

Loki smirked, "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." He walked from the edge of the cage to the centre and face Fury head on.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." He replied.

"Oh I've heard, the mindless beast." Bruce's grip on the chairs tightened as Loki looked directly into the camera, "Lets pray he's still a man." Penny lifted her hand and placed it on Bruce's and gave a gentle squeeze, her body turning half toward him. Her eyes flickered to the man behind her before resting on the cold figure of Loki.

"How desperate are you? That you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" His eyes narrowed at the tall man outside the glass prison. "How desperate am I? You threaten our world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk of peace but you kill because it's fun. You have made me _very _desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Fury spat back at him, which only fuelled Loki's fire.

"Go patch." Penny whispered humourlessly, which earned a smirk from Tony.

"Ooh, it _burns_ you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all of mankind to share?" Loki smirked arrogantly and looked around before settling his gaze once again on the tall man. "And then to be reminded of what real power is..."

Fury began to walk away, but shouted back "Well let me know if real power wants a magazine or something." The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, Natasha stood and went to walk to the door.

"Natasha," Tony stood up when she looked back, "Be careful." She nodded and continued out the door.

It didn't get past Tony that Penny's hand was lightly holding Bruce's, and Bruce was lightly holding back. He figured that's what she must have been doing when her arm moved out of the corner of his eye when Loki made that remark about Bruce. He placed his hand in front of his mouth, to anyone else it would look like he was deep in thought, to Tony, he was simply hiding his grin.

Natasha appeared on the small screen and the grin soon got wiped off.

"There's not many people who can sneak up on me." He turned around to face her. "But you figured I'd come."

"After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate." He smiled, and he looked half human, a ghost of who he was graced his sharp features.

"I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton." Penny had to admit it, she deserved props for having no emotion in her voice. But she was a spy, so she was probably trained for it. "I'd say I've expanded his mind." Loki replied wittily, humour hidden behind his cold eyes.

"And once you've won, once you're king of the mountain, what happens to his mind?" Natasha edged slowly closer towards the glass prison, keeping a keen eye on the Asgardian as she did so.

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Tony and Bruce quickly exchanged worried glances.

"Love is for children. I owe him a debt." Came her smooth reply, her voice void of emotion. Loki smiled, "Tell me."

Natasha pulled a chair in front of the glass wall and sat down slowly, cautiously. "Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh...well, I made a name for myself." Penny smiled slightly, "I have a very specific skillset. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call." She fidgeted with her hands, which, Tony observed, was very unlike the agent he knew.

"She's up to something." He whispered. "What?" Penny whispered back, but Loki's voice drew her attention back to the screen.

"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" He smirked. "Not let you out –"

"Ah, no. But I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man?" He spun to face the camera, his piercing blue eyes focusing before turning back to Natasha. Bruce squeezed Penny's hand like she had done earlier, she looked to him and met his kind brown eyes and smiled slightly.

"Regime's fall everyday. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian. Or I was." She inclined her head to the side. "And what are you now?" If she was up to something, then Loki was falling for it.

"It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."

"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Drakoff's daughter? Sao Paulo? The hospital fire? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer. Pathetic! You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away."

Natasha stood up quickly and slowly began to back away. "I won't barter Barton! Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!" He spat vehemently, leaning against the glass for support. She had turned her back to the cage, sobbing sounds could be heard coming from her.

"You're a monster." She choked.

"Oh, no." He smirked, straightening himself out, "You brought the monster."

It was as if someone had flicked a switch on her emotions, she spun around to face him, her face perfectly composed. "So, Banner? That's your play?" Penny's eyes flickered behind her quickly, and then back at the screen.

"What?" He asked, clearly confused.

"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Get Banner in the lab, I'm on my way." She spoke into an earpiece as she made for the door. She stopped and turned back to face Loki, she bowed slightly. "Thank you, for your cooperation." She nodded, and left.

* * *

The screens turned black, but no one moved. Thor looked lost in thought, and Bruce still held lightly onto Penny's hand. A beeping snapped everyone out of the silence as they looked to Mr Stark, who had pulled a phone out of his pocket and waved it at Banner.

"You know what this means!" He sang excitedly, Steve looked confused. "What does it mean?" Tony looked over at the man before sighing.

"It means that J.A.R.V.I.S has hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D's computers, In ten minutes, I will know all of Fury's deepest darkest secrets." He smiled.

"What?" Steve pushed his chair back and stood up. "What could you possibly find that Fury hasn't already told us?" He walked over to a now standing Tony.

"Captain, he's a spy. He's _the _spy. His secrets have secrets!" Tony explained exasperatedly, sitting on the edge of the table he fiddled with a pen. "Why would he keep anything from us? He's working for the national intelligence-"

"An Intelligence agency that _fears_ intelligence? Historically, _not_ awesome." Tony interrupted, Steve squared up to Tony as Penny stood, ready to separate them if needs be. "Just do your job, Stark."

Bruce found himself moving closer to Penny since she decided to stand, he could feel the Hulk telling him to, urging him on. "Girls! Girls!" She was pushing them away from each other, Bruce quickly pulled Tony back while Penny placed both hands on Steve's chest. "You're both pretty," Steve placed a hand on Penny's waist as she removed one of her hands. "So can we all just play nice now?" She asked politely, Bruce would have been lying if he said he wasn't jealous. He would also have been lying if he said that he wasn't glaring slightly at Steve.

"Who in this room is A. Wearing a spangly outfit and B. Not of any use?" Tony asked rhetorically, while Steve looked around the room. He glared at Tony and quickly walked off down the corridor. "That's what I thought." He smiled victoriously, while Penny only rolled her eyes.

**Good? Bad? I know I mixed the film up a bit, but not major I don't think :) I think you all know what's coming next chapter, or should I say **_**who **_**is coming next chapter? Let me know what you think, I can't make my mind up about this chapter yet. **

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh wow! 10 story alerts, 7 favourite story and 7 reviews! You guys rock, virtual cookies for everyone! :D**

The remaining Avengers walked to the lab in silence, leading the way was Tony, leaving Penny behind with Thor and Bruce. She couldn't help but feel guilty for thinking about anything _but _the task at hand. She should be concentrating on Loki, on how he's planning to take over the world for some glowing energy source called the Tesseract. But all she could think about was two things; one, how Loki was planning to use the Hulk in his plan of world domination. And two, how the whole of the Helicarrier was covered in grey steel. _Grey._

She felt a poke in her side, "Are you alright Lady Penelope?" Thor spoke softly though his voice still boomed; he had bent down slightly as they walked so he was nearer to her height. Penny smiled up at the God, "Yeah I'm okay, just worried about this whole situation is all. But then again, who isn't?" Smiling sadly she looked to her fidgeting hands and back up to Thor.

He was smiling sadly also, "I understand, my Jane is here on Earth. I worry for her safety, though Son of Coul assures me she has been moved to a safer location. One can't help but worry." His shining blue eyes smiled when he spoke of Jane, Penny smiled sweetly and nodded in understanding. _I wonder if his Jane is the astrophysicist that worked with Eric Selvig? He did say he was friends with them… _They carried on in silence.

* * *

Penny felt a tug on her forearm as she was pulled to a stop at the end of the corridor that held the lab. Turning around, she saw Bruce holding her arm. Retracting his hand quickly, he nodded to Tony signalling that he'd be in in a second.

He turned his gaze back to Penny, "Are you, uh, okay? You said you were worried about the situation…Not that I was listening to your conversation or anything!" He quickly corrected as he felt a blush creep upon his cheeks, smiling shyly over his glasses at Penny. She smiled quickly up at Bruce, "I'm fine, seriously. Just not knowing why I'm here and…my closest friend got kidnapped and killed for something _I _did! That's my fault, it's my fault that he's dead Bruce." She looked up at him, meeting his deep brown eyes before continuing. "And – And then I get tossed into this, this, _mess!_ With a mad man from outer space, and aliens and superheroes!" She started breathing heavily and could feel tears welling in her eyes; she blinked faster to push them away.

She was panicking. Why had she been taken by S.H.I.E.L.D? With the world domination going on she doubted she'd find out any time soon, and once this mess was sorted out, the Avengers would go back to living their normal lives. And she would be left on a floating grey fortress alone with no one for company but Patch and Happy Anderson that was Natasha. Penny hated to admit it, but she liked being here, spending the days with Bruce and Tony. Talking about Asgard with Thor and about days gone past with Steve; she didn't know if she could deal with having her life turned on its head again alone.

"Hey," Bruce quickly placed a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her, admittedly, he started to panic too. He had no idea how to deal with women anymore, let alone a crying woman who was clearly stressed. He'd actively avoided stress for the past 3 years."It's going to be fine; no one is going to get you. Okay? I won't –"He gulped, "_we _won't let anything happen to you. What happened with Henson, it doesn't matter? It's in the past, just –"

"But-when-this-is-all-over-you're-all-going-to-go-home…" Penny sniffed, admittedly she hated crying in front of people, but she couldn't help it. Things got on top of her and she got stressed, quite quickly. And the sleep deprivation probably wasn't helping her either.

What could he say? He didn't know what S.H.I.E.L.D wanted with her, he didn't even know what was going to happen in the lab let alone what was going to happen once all this was over.

He pulled her chin up with a finger, "I promise that we, especially me and Tony, won't leave you here alone. And after that, he'll probably try and drag you to Stark tower." He smiled as Penny giggled, wiping her stray tears away. Nodding, she pulled his wrist towards the door to the lab.

"Wait!" She whispered, Bruce turned around to find her stood still and looked at her questioningly. "Do I look like I've been crying?" She half laughed while Bruce studied her face quickly; her cheeks were slightly pink and tears still clung to her eyelashes, but otherwise, he couldn't help but think she looked perfect. Shaking his head she brightened and skipped into the room ahead of him; "You look perfect." He mumbled to himself before heading in with a slight shake of his head.

* * *

"What are you doing, Mr Stark?" Tony was stood by a hanging computer when Penny walked in, Bruce close behind her. Fury stormed over to stand on the far side of the room, a scowl on his face. "Uh, I've _kind of _been wondering the same thing about you." He replied cockily.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury walked to stand in front of Tony, leaning in slightly for emphasis. Penny shifted her feet and stood closest to Thor who smiled down at the small woman, she looked around for Steve but couldn't see him anywhere.

"We are," Bruce cut in as he leant up against the window behind Tony, he'd taken his glasses off and Penny couldn't help but think how handsome he looked when they were off. "The models locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." He pointed to a computer at the back.

"Then you'll get your cube back. No muss, no fuss…" The computer in front of Tony beeped, "What _is _Phase 2?"

A slam was heard from behind, Penny swung around to see Steve with his hand on what looked to be a big gun. His face was set in stone, a hard line and to be blunt, he looked pissed. "Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D using the cube to make weapons." He walked forward and glanced at Tony, "Sorry but the computer was going a little slow for me."

Fury walked towards Steve, "Rogers we gathered everything related to the Tesseract, this does not mean that we-"

"I'm sorry," Tony interrupted as he swung the screen around, revealing the blueprints for the weapon, "Nick? What was that you were saying?" He smirked.

"I was wrong director," Steve mumbled as Natasha walked in to join us. "The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve frowned and crossed his arms, "Did you know about this?" Bruce used his glasses to point at Natasha and then at the screen.

She stared him down, "You want to think about removing yourself from this environment doctor?" She spoke. Penny rounded on her quickly and walked over to her, "I wouldn't talk about Bruce that was if I were you. Who's side are you on anyway?" Penny narrowed her eyes at the red headed assassin, before turning back to the discussion at hand.

Bruce shifted his gaze from Penny to the spy, he laughed dryly, "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed." He moved to the front of the desk and leaned on it with his arms folded across his chest. "Loki's manipulating you," She started, moving forward. "And you've been doing what, exactly?" He bit back as Penny smirked.

"You didn't come here because I batted my _eyelashes _at you,"

"Yes and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little _twitchy._" He pulled the screen and looked at it for a moment before continuing. "I'd like to know, why S.H.I.E.L.D are using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!" He growled while the director sighed heavily.

"Because of him." He pointed at Thor, who looked beyond confused and pointed to himself. "Me?" Tony's face changed from smug to confused as he looked between the Norse God and the man in black.

"Last year the Earth had a visitor who had a _grudge_ that managed to level a small town," He shifted from foot to foot, "We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, _hilariously, _outgunned." He looked around at everyone.

"Our people want nothing but peace with your plant." Thor uncrossed his arms and puffed out his chest. Penny moved closer towards Tony who noticed her movements out of the corner of his eye.

"But you're not the only people out there are you? _And_ you're not the only threat! The world is filling up with people who can't be matched. Who can't be controlled." He added onto the end.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve shot at him, "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it," Thor walked towards Fury but stopped slightly, thinking "And his allies! It is a signal to all the other realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form or war!"

"A higher form?" Penny asked, but her question got batted aside.

"You forced our hand, we had to come up with someth-"

"A nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything right down." Tony droned condescendingly from beside her as she looked up to him, he had his hands behind his back before bringing them to the front again.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune Stark?" Fury spat back in reply, "I'm sure if Stark still made weapons he'd be neck deep in-"

"Woah, hold on here. How is this now about me?" Tony's hands came up in front of him as he defended himself, "I'm sorry isn't everything?" Steve shot back as Tony walked over to him.

Penny slid over to stand next to Bruce who looked down at her, her eyes were wide and she had her arms crossed in front of her in a defensive manner. "I thought humans were more evolved than this?" Thor boomed.

"_Excuse me,"_ Fury rounded on Thor, "Do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Everyone started talking at once and arguments began amongst everyone, Penny watched on as her friends fought it out amongst themselves.

"Are you _really _that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats!" She heard Natasha say, to whom though she wasn't sure. "And Captain America is on the threat list now?" Bruce nodded to Steve before turning back to Natasha. Penny turned around to look at what looked like a sceptre with a blue glowing circle, it was making a sound, like a ringing. She looked back to everyone else and saw they were arguing amongst themselves still and hadn't noticed.

She took one last glance at the sceptre and moved towards the back of the room while her friends argued it out.

"You speak of control yet you cause chaos!" Thor teased before laughing silently.

"This is MO isn't it? I mean, what are we? A team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos, we're – we're a _time bomb." _Fury turned around and walked towards Bruce.

"You need to step away," He threatened, raising his eyebrows.

"Why _shouldn't _the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked placing a hand on Steve's shoulder who immediately pushed him off. "You know damn well why! Back off!" He shouted glaring at Tony.

"Oh I'm starting to want you to make me." Stark squared up to him and Penny took a step closer to the two men, preparing herself for the two to start battling it out.

"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour, take that off what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." He smirked, Natasha quirked an eyebrow.

"I know guys with none of that worth _ten _of you." Steve whispered quietly, "And I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself; you're not the guy to make the sacrificed play. To lie down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Everyone had turned their attention to the two clashing men.

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony spat, Bruce had raised eyebrows as Steve smirked. "Always a way out. You know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment Rogers, everything special about you came out of a _bottle."_ Tony was in Steve's face, a grimace across each of their faces.

"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Thor's laughed vibrated around the room as Penny looked at him in disbelief. "You people are so petty!" He looked to Natasha and me before turning back to the men, "And tiny…"

"Yeah this is a team…" Bruce sighed.

"Agent Romanoff, could you escort Dr Banner back to his-"

"Where? You rented me room." He gestured in the direction of Loki's cage while he placed his glasses down with his other hand.

"The cell was just in case-"

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't. I know I _tried!"_ Penny's eyes snapped over to Bruce's as everyone fell silent. He'd tried to kill himself? Why? Why would he do that? Everyone looked to him with sadness and the previous arguments seemed like they were a world away.

Bruce looked to her and then back to the floor and crossing his arms again, "I got low. I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the _other guy spat it out." _Penny could feel her fingernails dig into her palms while Tony's fists tightened. "So I moved on. I focused on helping other people, I was good." He looked at Natasha with anger in his eyes, "Before you _dragged_ me back into this freak show. I put everyone here at risk."

"You wanna know my secret Agent Romanoff?" He took a step towards her, "You wanna know how I stay calm?" He spoke through gritted teeth while his heart rate sped up.

Penny saw the director reach for his gun as she took a step forward, "Bruce," His eyes flickered over to her. Her expression was hard and defiant, no fear showed in her face; but worry was evident in her green eyes.

"Dr Banner," He looked to Steve, "Put down the sceptre." Bruce looked down at his hand in confusion; in his left hand he held the sceptre that had been making the noise. Bruce looked back up to Steve when Penny turned to the computer that beeped behind her.

"We got it." The director smiled as he put his gun back in its holster. Bruce placed the sceptre on the counter and walked to the computer by Penny. "Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all." He smiled slightly when he passed Penny.

"You've located the Tesseract!" Natasha walked to stand beside her while everyone started to argue again.

"I can get there fastest." Interjected Tony.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it." Thor warned as Tony made for the door, Steve grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "You're not going alone!" He chided as Tony stood in front of him.

"You gonna stop me?" He slapped Steve's hand away, "Put on the suit, let's find out." They squared up to each other again; Steve's taller frame towered over Tony's.

"Will you two just knock it off already?" Penny shouted, though it fell on unhearing ears. She was tired of all this fighting and being ignored, and she could really do with a power nap.

"I'm not afraid of you old man." He spoke low. Steve gritted his teeth before replying "Put on the _suit."_

Penny watched Bruce remove his glasses, "Oh my god…" He mumbled as her eyebrows furrowed at his worried expression. "Bruce what's wrong?" He frowned as he walked around the table to stand next to her before looking over to Tony and Steve.

* * *

It all happened so fast. A loud rumble was heard before the centre of the room was engulfed by flames, Fury jumped through the window and onto the bridge. Penny fell through the floor and but landed on something soft.

She groaned and opened her eyes to find herself on top of Bruce, who had his arms around her waist. He must have pulled her on top of him so she wouldn't get hurt, Bruce stirred.

Penny heard movement to her right, "Natasha!" She scrambled off of Bruce and over to the agent. Her leg was trapped under a piece of heavy looking metal. Penny looked to her and moved to the metal, attempting to move it. "I can't do it! It's too heavy!" She heaved again but to no avail.

Bruce groaned, "We're okay." Natasha spoke quickly into her ear piece. Bruce groaned again and Penny rushed over to check he was okay, "We're okay right?" She heard her mumble.

"Bruce? Hey are you okay?" Bruce's hands flexed and he started to hunch over, Penny's eyes grew wide as she pushed her hair behind her ears. "Bruce. Listen to me! You've gotta fight it. We're gonna be okay." Penny spoke the words as calmly as she could, if she could get him to calm down then there was no need for the Hulk to make an appearance.

Penny sat on the balls of her feet as his purple shirt started to rip over his growing muscles, his skin had started to take on a green colour as the alarm bells started ringing. "Bruce, I swear on my _life_ that you will get out of this and you will walk away and _never_ have to-"

"_You're Life!" _He yelled, his voice had gotten deeper and huskier as she fell backwards at the movement onto her bum.

Bruce hunched again and stood up to his growing height. The shirt was ripped across the chest and he growled in pain before stumbling backwards off of the platform. Penny looked over to Natasha and quickly hurried to the trapped woman's side.

"We need to go!" Natasha whispered once she'd freed her leg, Penny nodded but crawled over to the edge and looked down at the Hulk. Bruce looked over his shoulder to see Penny leaning over the platform side, "Bruce," She mumbled, her voice breaking at the end. He hunched again, his muscles expanding still while the remains of his purple shirt fell to the floor.

Natasha pulled Penny up as he let out an ear splitting roar before the banging started and the lights cut out. She squeaked as she felt Natasha take her hand, she tugged on it and pulled her to the stairway. Stopping the looked up at the hulking creature before them, they noticed that it stopped and looked at them over its shoulder; it began to run towards them with pounding footsteps.

Natasha scrambled up the stairs and pulled Penny through the rails just before the stairway was ripped from beneath them. Hulk let out a frustrated cry while he slammed the staircase to the side. They crawled as silently as they could through the small spaces between the pipes, Natasha's grip on Penny's hand tightened when she heard a clang from behind her.

Penny looked down as her glasses slipped from her top and then up to a frightened Natasha, they braced themselves for a roar, or a bang. But nothing was heard, creeping as silently as they could they continued forward stopping every now and then to listen for the whereabouts of the Hulk.

They stood up from their position and walked a few paces from their hiding spot before a thundering cry was heard to their right, Penny screamed and fell backwards over her feet and hit the back of her head off of a pipe; knocking herself out in the process. Natasha fired a shot at a pipe above its head. "Run!" She shouted over her shoulder as the Hulk chased after her.

She made a sharp right and ducked behind a crate, she clasped a hand to her mouth to quieten her heavy breathing as the hulk searched for her. She could hear it moving things, searching for her. The hulk grunted and padded off in the direction it had come, once it was out of ear shot, she sighed and sat backwards. Pulling her legs to her chest she rocked, wondering which way the girl had run off in.

The hulk saw the young woman lying on the floor unconscious and slowly picked her up in his hand, he saw a flash of red on the back of her head and carefully rolled her over to look; her head was bleeding. Grunting, he poked her with his little finger in an attempt to wake her up. When she didn't stir, he scratched his head with his free hand.

"_Pen-ny_…"

**So it's a bit longer than the other chapters, but I couldn't stop writing! Remember guys to click to blue button and REVIEW and let me know how I'm doing! :D **

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	5. Chapter 5

Penny woke to the beeping of a heart rate monitor. The ceiling was pure white, which made a nice change from the grey steel of the helicarrier, lifting her head she dropped it back down in pain, immediately regretting it.

"Oww…" She moaned, her hand going to the back of her head; she could feel stitches which explained the pain.

"You're awake." She sat up and turned her head to the left, "Bruce." She smiled as she pushed her hair behind her ears. He returned the smile and stood up, walking over to a counter in the corner she let her eyes wander around the room. The walls were a pale yellow colour, and there was a big bouquet of flowers in a vase on her bedside table. _I wonder who they're from?_

"How are you feeling?" He offered as he walked back over with a few medical instruments in his hands, he placed them on a moveable try. "Okay, my head hurts a bit but otherwise it's fine I guess." He nodded and smiled, "How are you feeling?" She asked quietly.

His smile wavered, he stood up and looked into her wide green eyes before answering. "I'm good, happy actually." Her brow rose in confusion, he grinned as he scribbled down her heart rate. "Happy knowing that I wasn't the one to hurt you. Apparently, I didn't hurt anyone." Penny sat up more and fluffed her pillows behind her.

"Then that's good. I'm happy too then!" She laughed at how childish she sounded, but Bruce didn't mind at all. In fact, he liked the idea that his happiness made her happy. He set a needle down on the tray, "I uh, I need to take your blood. If that's okay?" Pointing to the needle with his pen she nodded and held her arm out.

Penny shuffled over slightly when Bruce sat down on the bed, picking his glasses up off the tray he perched them on his nose and lightly grabbed Penny's arm. He looked up as she giggled, "Sorry," She blushed, "you're tickling me." She smiled shyly. Bruce flashed a smile and readied the needle.

"This might hurt a little," He warned, pushing the needle in he saw her flinch and look away. "All done." He said, pulling the needle out he pushed a cotton wool ball onto her arm to stop the bleeding. "You okay?" He asked when she didn't respond; she nodded quickly and breathed a deep breath.

"I don't really like needles, they kinda creep me out." She smiled a small smile but it quickly dropped from her face. "You know what?" Bruce smiled, "I don't really like them either." She brightened and placed her finger over the cotton wool ball. He slowly released the pressure and felt his stomach flip when her fingers brushed his. His breathing quickened.

"This time, I did bring you a present." Tony shut the door behind him and stalked over to the bed, sitting down he handed her a neatly wrapped large box. The paper was green and it had a purple bow around it. Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tony when he saw the colours; Tony looked like a child that had been caught red handed.

"What?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders, "I thought she might appreciate the colours!" He defended.

Penny giggled, "I love the colours Tony, thank you." She smiled warmly at him and he gestured for her to open it. Tony cringed at her confused expression and look of blatant horror that crossed her face.

"What? Do you not like the colour?" She embarrassedly turned to face him; her face was as bright as a tomato. She stood up off the bed and Bruce sat down on the bed next to Tony. "What did he get you?" He laughed nervously, eyes flickering between her and Tony.

She pulled out what could only be described as skimpy material with a stich or two in it. Holding it up to her figure, she saw what it truly was. It was bright red lace, with hints of yellow lace here and there. On the bra, there was a blue circle made out of leather stitched in. A lingerie version of Iron Man. She blushed even more.

Bruce gulped as his mouth went dry. Tony jumped up and snatched the box back, stuffing the lid back on roughly. A hint on a blush was visible on his cheeks, "I um," he coughed to clear his throat before standing up, "I must have gotten your box mixed up with Peppers…" He finished lamely.

Penny's furious expression changed to pure glee. She laughed out loud happily, "Maybe if you got them in green and purple I wouldn't have been so cross!" She giggled as a nurse walked in and placed a pile of clothes on the table by the door. Bruce blushed at her comment and turned towards the nurse who was stood in the doorway, looking at the laughing Penny curiously.

"Director Fury is holding a meeting in 2 hours, he wants you all to attend." She turned from the men to face the recovering Penny, "Miss Green, you're invited to the meeting too. Mr Fury said two hours should be sufficient to shower, change and eat." She smiled sweetly and retreated out of the room.

Penny turned to Bruce and Tony, "When she says, 'invited', she means that I have no choice right?" She asked, the men nodded amusedly when she started fake crocodile tears.

* * *

Penny had stepped into the shower, which left Tony and Bruce alone in the room until she made an appearance. They had promised her to take her for some lunch, since it was nearly 12 'o' clock, and then they would all show up to the meeting together.

Tony kicked the green and purple box, twisting his body he quickly placed his gaze on Bruce, "I saw it you know." He smirked, and the doctor smiled and looked down.

"Saw what?" He huffed, kicking the box back over to Tony.

"Uh, I don't know, how about the way you act around her?" Bruce's head snapped up at the sentence, but soon looked back down at his hands. He sighed, "What are you talking about Tony?"

"The looks, the smiles, the blushes, the little glances at her when you know she's not looking –" He stopped and let out a breath, his voice quietened and took on a serious tone. "How the hulk cared for her instead of hurting her." Tony bit his lip, hoping he hadn't crossed the line with that one. He actually liked Bruce, regardless of the enormous green rage monster.

Bruce snickered, "Yeah…I was pretty surprised at that myself."

Tony pressed, "So you admit it?" Bruce looked over at his scheming friend and smiled slyly.

"Admit what?" He replied cautiously, knowing what he was getting at. But Bruce wouldn't let him lecture him about it, not today anyway.

"That you have feelings, _romantic, _feelings for Penny?" He smiled and Bruce grinned, he opened his mouth to reply when Penny opened the door and walked back in.

"So what are you girls gossiping about?" Pulling her hair into a ponytail she looked between her two new favourite men, Tony held a small smile while Bruce was looking at Tony with playful daggers.

"Nothing, really." Bruce smiled without taking his eyes off his billionaire friend who was smirking into his hands. She looked between the two with her eyebrow raised; she placed her hands on her hips and cleared her throat.

They snapped their head towards the amused woman, "Shall we?" They nodded as she gestured to the door. "Good, I'm _starving!"_

Penny closed the door behind her and followed the talking scientists down the hallway. She was embarrassed to admit that she had no idea where the canteen actually was, it didn't occur to her that the helicarrier would have one. It was only when she complained to Tony that she was hungry that he had the idea of them going to the canteen for food before the meeting.

She hurried to catch up to the other two and fell into step on the end by Bruce, "You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime, top 10 floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's Candy land." Tony continued, "Of course our pretty Penny here is welcome too. Pepper could use a girlfriend." He smirked.

"Oh haha, so I'm banned from the lab?" She pouted looking around Bruce at the billionaire who just let out a hearty laugh; Penny skipped ahead and pushed the button for the elevator.

"Thanks but, the last time I was in New York, I... kind of broke... Harlem." Bruce smiled shyly and looked at the numbers above the doors. Penny sighed at the grey steel of the elevator as Tony pressed a button.

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment, no surprises..."

"OW!" Penny jumped and looked to the other two, Tony was holding some sort of pointy stick and Bruce was rubbing his side, a lopsided grin on his face.

The doors to the elevator opened, "Would you please refrain from poking my current favourite of the group?" She sighed and walked down the hallway, leaving Tony's mouth agape and Bruce grinning wildly.

"Hear that?" He nudged Tony with his elbow, "I'm her _favourite._" Bruce jogged to catch up to her when she stopped dead in her tracks. She spun around and came face to face with something warm and hard.

"Omph!" Bruce's arms shot out to steady her as Tony reached the two. Penny looked up to find that she had bumped into Bruce, not a warm wall like she had thought, "Heh, sorry…" She mumbled, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink at the closeness.

"What do you mean he's your favourite?" Tony whined, ignoring that Bruce still had an arm around Penny's waist and she still had her hand on his chest. He was slightly surprised that she hadn't removed it yet; surely she could feel his heart speed up?

"I-I didn't…I mean I-" Stuttering she looked from one to the other, a pink tint lingering on Bruce's cheeks too.

Tony held up his hands, "No! I understand!" He feigned hurt and sniffed, "If you prefer this," He waved his hands at Bruce before continuing, "this _ruggedly _handsome man to a billionaire, I understand." He sniffed again, wiping a fake tear away from his eye.

Penny giggled and moved her hand from Bruce's chest, they continued walking again and admittedly, Bruce missed the contact, but quickly shook the thought out of his head.

The canteen was, to Penny's disappointment, _grey steel_. "Again?" She mumbled.

She queued up behind Tony who was whispering something excitedly into Bruce's ear, there was the choice of Lasagne, Spaghetti Bolagnase, Chicken Caesar Salad or…

"Man n Cheese?" Tony questioned as Penny plopped down happily with her tray, "Mac n Cheese." She smiled brightly at him before digging in.

Tony made a circling motion with his fork before he poked at his Lasagne some more, "I don't think I've ever seen anyone get so excited over Mac n Cheese…" He spoke quietly while Penny giggled at him.

Bruce smiled and looked at Penny, remembering their conversation in the lab. His smile grew wider, "Her cat likes it."

**Just wanted to say a quick hi to all the new readers, this is just a bit of a filler chapter to set up the next one :) I know it's shorter than the last one, but I'll make up for it next chapter :) Remember to review!**

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	6. Chapter 6

Once again Penny found herself sat around that familiar round table with the team that she had come to know as the Avengers. She took a seat in between Tony and Steve while Thor sat awkwardly on the end by Natasha. She flashed the red head a smile when she noticed that she was studying her. Holding her hand up she made an 'ok' signal to her, Natasha smiled slightly and nodded once. Penny had to remind herself to tell her how pretty she looked when she smiled.

"Avengers, this is agent Clint Barton." He gestured to a man with short blondey coloured hair, he held his hand up and waved it slightly, "Otherwise known as 'Hawkeye'." He dropped his hand back to the table and looked to the director.

"I believe you all understand what happened aboard the helicarrier yesterday?" He questioned, _yesterday? Was I really out that long?_ Penny nodded when she saw everyone else do that same, in reality, she had no idea what happened; all she knew was that Loki had escaped. Planning quickly she decided to ask Steve about it later, for now all she really wanted was answers.

"Can we skip ahead to the part where you tell me why the hell I'm here? I believe we almost got there last time, but there was a _slight_ problem as I recall." She waved her hand nonchalantly, feeling the director's eye on her she let it drop lamely as she looked around to the others.

"Thank you, Miss Green. And yes, you will be glad to know, that is what we are here for." He stood up and paced, "As we discussed before, Dr John Henson has been taken hostage because of the Extremis project." Penny flinched and Tony grabbed her hand in his.

"However, as we know Dr Henson wasn't the one who developed it; Miss Green here did. So now we have a problem." He looked over Penny, she wasn't much. A small framed woman with auburn hair and big, bright green eyes; freckles sprinkled across her nose. If he had to pick a bio – technologist out of a group of people, she would be the last. She just looked too _normal._

"Problem, sir?" Bruce pulled him out of his trance as he began pacing again.

"Dr Henson was captured for the Extremis virus; we believe that his captures wanted to use the virus in some way. They wanted him to recreate it for them." Penny paled; she knew what was coming before he even said it. "Only he couldn't reproduce it, it would seem that the only person, who knows how to do it, is currently holding Mr Stark's hand."

Everyone turned to her, Tony kept his gaze on the director while Penny focused on a piece of glass that had been left on the table. She could feel the Mac n Cheese turning in her stomach, threatening to make an appearance. Bruce glanced at their hands, while Steve clenched his fists. _Why couldn't people just leave Dr Erksine's formula alone?_

"We have a video, which was recently sent to us from the captors. I understand if you don't wish to watch it Miss Gre-"

"No, I think I need to." Her grip tightened on Tony's hand as she prepared herself to see the people who had tipped her life on its head. Fury nodded and pulled up a video on the screen at the front.

The room in the video looked dirty and blood stained. Sat at the front was a man with a bag over his head, looking to his arms and legs it was clear that he was tied to the chair; to either side two men stood holding guns. They ripped the bag off the man's face and he squinted at the light adjustment. _John._

Penny gasped when she took in his appearance, he was bloodied and bruised; a large cut on his face was bleeding and looked slightly infected. The man who was holding a gun to John's head spoke first, his face had a mask over it and had been blurred.

"We have come to understand that Dr Henson didn't produce the Extremis serum. John here," He shoved the gun roughly against his head. "has informed us that it was instead his partner, Miss Penelope Green that created it."

The man on the right spoke next, "We have decided to give you fair warning, a warning that we are no longer acting alone." He looked to behind the camera as an all too familiar face walked to stand behind John.

Everyone tensed as he began to speak, "I hear the beast is quite fond of the mortal," Loki began quietly, looking directly into the camera. Penny could feel her skin crawl under his gaze and shuffled in her seat. "The Iron Man too. This virus could prove to be, _useful_, to say the least, in my plan. So I offer you a bargain."

He took the gun from the shortest man, "The bargain is this Penelope;" He whispered, placing the gun against the side of John's head. "Hand yourself over and make the serum, and I will let you live." He cocked the gun and Penny stood up, clutching Tony's hand for dear life.

"If you fail to hand yourself over within a week, then we will come for you. And this," He looked to John and then to the camera again. His finger moved against the trigger as a loud shot echoed through Penny's ears; the tears started falling. John's body slumped and was shoved aside as Loki walked to sit where John had sat only moments ago.

"will be your fate too." He smirked maliciously and licked his lips, "Seven days, pretty Penny. And we _will _come for you." He snarled and the screen faded to black.

Penny slumped in her seat and stared at the table top. How had it come to this? John had just been killed, and for what? For a project. For a paper that had _his _name on it when it should have been _hers_. She should have published it herself; she shouldn't have let John put himself forward for it. She shouldn't have –

She felt Steve place one of his large hands on her shoulder.

Thor sucked in a breath, "What are you asking us to do?" Fury turned to the Asgardian and replied with six simple words, "What are you prepared, to do?" He swept the room, all of the people in the room looked solemn.

"I made a promise to Penny," Bruce spoke, "I promised I wouldn't leave her when that time came for her to know why she was here." He fiddled with his glasses, and glanced at her "I plan to keep that promise."

Tony smiled sadly and clapped Bruce on the shoulder, "I'm with Bruce, with Iron Man _and _the Hulk, I doubt anyone will be getting their hands on her anytime soon." He finished with a mischievous smirk before Thor stood up.

"And a God. Lady Penelope shall not come to harm under my watch." Penny could feel a silent tear roll down her cheek as the two assassins nodded in agreement and Steve replaced his hand on her shoulder; "Penny can count on us, always can." He smiled down at the girl as she tried to smile through the tears.

Fury nodded and sat down, "Good answer gentlemen, Miss Green is now in your care." He turned to the shaken Penny, "Miss Green, you are no longer in the care of S.H.I.E.L.D. Instead you are free to-"

"She's _free_ to be taken into the care of me," Tony interrupted, "and the other of course. You can stay at Stark tower with me and Pepper." Penny opened her mouth to argue but he held a finger up to stop her.

"No arguing, Bruce is coming too so you won't feel like a gooseberry." He looked to his other team mates, "Of course, everyone else will be coming too. Even Cap-sicle." He smirked at Steve whose brow furrowed in annoyance.

Penny nodded numbly as she tried to take it all in at once, "You're all dismissed. You'll all be updated on Loki and the Tesseract when we have more information. For now though, I want you all to be on guard. We'll be landing in about an hour, there will be a car to take you to Stark tower. I want you all to check in before the day is out. That means_ everyday_ gentlemen, okay?" Everyone stood up to leave, "_Okay?"_ Everyone nodded and left silently, Thor and Steve took turns to hug her before they nodded and left down the hallway to pack.

* * *

Penny leant up against the wall outside the room; the cold steel made her shiver as fresh tears began to flow freely. Bruce was scratching the stubble on his chin when Tony turned to face the girl, her eyes we red and her face had crystal like tears running down her face. He quickly pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her frame; he rubbed her back gently with one hand.

She couldn't describe his smell as anything _but _'Tony'. He smelt like him; and it was comforting. One hand was rubbing her back gently and she let out a strangled sob into his chest, his grip tightened on her slightly at the sound. He dipped his head to his ear and began to sooth her. "Hey shhh…"

"It's okay, _nothing _is going to happen to you. Okay? _Nothing. _We won't let it." He whispered gently, his facial hair tickled her cheek and she nodded silently against his chest. Was she putting her friends at risk? What if something were to happen to one of them while protecting her? What about the Tesseract? What would John's family be told? Surely not the truth…

Bruce stood there awkwardly as Tony consoled Penny; he shifted from foot to foot and rearranged his sleeves, rolling them up to his elbows.

"Miss Potts is calling you sir," A voice Bruce had come to know as J.A.R.V.I.S sounded from Tony's pocket. Tony quickly looked to Bruce and passed him a broken looking Penny; he held an arm out and placed it around her shoulder. Her arms snaked around his neck while she buried her head into the crook of his neck, his remaining arm came around her waist.

She felt calmer, her sobs had stopped and a few stray tears remained on her cheeks. It didn't stop the small blush creeping on her face when she realised how close her and Bruce were. He could feel his face heat up and his body felt like all his nerves had been set alight, his thumb absentmindedly stoked her lower back as he listened to Tony talk to Pepper on the phone.

"Yes Pepper I'm sure she'd love to be tortured by a day shopping with you." He groaned and continued, "No, of _course_ I didn't mean it. Anyway, we should be there in a few hours;" Peppers voice could be heard on the other side of the phone.

"_We?_ The team. I'll explain everything when we get there, just, make sure the rooms are ready okay?"

He grinned, "Love you too, oh and by the way…" He looked at Bruce and Penny and turned around, lowering his voice. "I got you a present."

The phone snapped shut and he turned to face his two new friends and team mates. Penny had her hands lightly resting on Bruce's pecs, her head resting on his chest; her crying seemed to have died out, for now at least anyway. Bruce's arms had rested around her waist while his cheek rested on the top of her head. Both sets of eyes were closed in peace.

Tony grabbed his phone out of his pocket and aimed it at the pair; they jumped apart when they heard the shutter of a camera. "What?" They stared at him blankly, he nodded and grinned. "Don't worry; you'll thank me one day. For now though," He looked at his phone and turned it around for them to look at. "I think you two look _adorable._ Or should I say adorkable? And _I_ think I've just found myself a new background…" He winked and walked off.

"I'll meet you after packing!" He shouted over his shoulder.

Penny sucked in a deep breath and nodded to Bruce, this was the second time she had cried in front of him and to be honest, she felt kind of like a weak little girl.

"We should probably go pack…" She mumbled quietly, sniffing and wiping her eyes as she did. Bruce nodded. "Uh, yeah…" Penny smiled and pointed to his shirt, "I got your shirt all wet." She laughed slightly at how cliché it sounded, but carried on laughing anyway.

"It's okay," He smiled at her as they stared to walk down the corridor. "I've got a fair few, the other guy seems to like ruining them for me." He laughed awkwardly at the joke and messed his hair slightly with his hand.

Penny giggled and placed her hand on the door handle, "I'll meet you down there?" He nodded and smiled, "Yeah…" He smiled and walked away before turning back around and stopping in front of her again. "Are you uh, I mean are you-" He stuttered before Penny placed a hand on his forearm.

"I'll be fine, could do with a few minutes alone to be honest." He nodded and walked back off down the hallway. He heard the door to Penny's room shut and he grinned to himself, remembering how it felt to have her close to him in his arms.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, fishing it out he opened the new text message from Tony, 'Thought this might look good as your wallpaper for your phone. You can owe me later.' He scrolled down and clicked on the attached file.

The image of Penny wrapped in his arms appeared on his screen, their eyes were closed and a small smile graced her lips. Bruce snickered and clicked 'Set as wallpaper' quickly. He grinned and placed the phone back in his pocket, the image of him and Penny fresh in his mind.

**My inbox is literally filling up with emails from you guys saying that you've subbed and favourited, so I think I owe you all a HUGE thanks. This story wouldn't be anything without you. **

**Poor John! Poor Penny! And what is Loki planning? I suppose I could tell you…But I won't. You'll just have to keep reading to find out! ;)**

**Remember to review!**

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	7. Chapter 7

Steve had just finished piling the last of the suitcases that had been thrown on the floor in a mess when he heard huffing from behind. Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand he saw a struggling Penny, she had a large suitcase which was being pulled behind her, a duffle bag slung over one arm and a backpack that looked as if it was about to burst on her back.

Steve rushed forward and grabbed the suitcase and the duffle bag from her grip and placed them with the rest of the luggage. She soon appeared at his side and placed the blue and green backpack down.

She was wearing what he had been told to be 'Skinny Jeans' in a light blue denim colour, paired with a worn looking grey tee shirt that read 'I need a hero!' on in large blue letters; around the letters seemed to be various comic book heroes. She had simple white converse on her feet and a silver charm bracelet.

Steve grabbed the backpack and strapped it securely into place, "It's not very often you see a lady wearing tasteful jewellery nowadays." He commented, inclining his head towards her wrist. Penny smiled and pulled it up to eye level to look at it, "Thank you," She smiled shyly "I'm almost never without it. Reminds me of the people that I miss I guess…" She trailed off as she got lost in a memory.

She quickly brightened and flashed Steve a toothy grin, "Wanna know the story?" She asked, they turned to walk back to where the rest of the team had gathered while they waited to land. "Uh, story of what, exactly?" He asked cautiously, eyeing the bouncing girl.

"The charms of course silly, they each have their own different stories." She giggled, shaking her wrist as she did so. The charms hit off each other and made a jangling sound. "Why not?" He smiled down at her.

She lifted her wrist and showed him a little silver '18' that had a tiny four leaf clover attached. "This one I got for my eighteenth birthday along with the bracelet. And this one," She picked up another charm in the shape of a lemon that had been coloured yellow, "this one is from my Gran, God rest her soul, 'cause we always use to bake lemon cakes when I was little. She used to say, 'Penelope!" She put on a funny old lady like voice, Steve couldn't help but laugh a little, "your lemon cakes are gorgeous my dear!' And then she'd scold me for leaving the kitchen a mess."

"Oh! And this one, this one is from my Mom." She smiled slightly and showed him a circular charm that had a stick figure of a mom holding a little girls hand. Around the edge it said 'My darling daughter'. Steve smiled, "It's a really pretty bracelet, what's that one?"

Penny happily chatted away and showed Steve the meaning behind all her charms, who brought her which, how old she was; she had a fairly decent collection.

Steve held the door open to the lounge room everyone had gathered in and waited for Penny to walk through, before heading through himself. Penny plonked herself down on the sofa next to Tony and Bruce while Steve sat on a chair by Thor; she went to fish her glasses out of her jacket pocket.

"Damn…" She whispered, not finding them there. She remembered having them yesterday and then…Then they fell from her top, they fell when they were hiding from the Hulk.

"What's up?" Bruce whispered, Natasha was sleeping with her head on Clint's lap opposite and no one wanted to wake her; they probably wouldn't survive if they did.

Penny looked up to see Bruce looking at her with inquisitive eyes, "My glasses, I lost them when me and Natasha were..Uh-"

"Hiding from the Hulk." He finished for her; she looked up to him quickly to make sure she hadn't offended him. Her expression made him chuckle lightly, "I watched the CCTV tape," Her expression turned questioning.

She opened her mouth to speak but Bruce beat her to it, "Why did I watch the tape?" He asked, Penny nodded, "Because I, uh-I…" Looking for the right words he found himself stammering and stumbling over his explanation.

"Because he wanted to make sure that he really wasn't the one to hurt you; for some _unexplainable _reason he didn't believe me." Tony whispered quickly, smiling at Bruce before turning to a shocked Penny.

"By the way, how did you manage to knock yourself out?" He smirked as he watched her face turn pink, "I think I might have to make you an award." Penny scrunched up her nose in thought.

Bruce and Tony chuckled at the sight, "An award for what?" Bruce stood up to get a cup of water from the corner of the room.

"For discovering new levels of clumsiness!" He chuckled and Penny began to laugh humourlessly, they stopped suddenly when the carrier began to shake. Penny was immediately set on edge; surely they wouldn't attack them, not now. _But it hasn't been a week yet!_ Everyone shot up out of their seat, but Penny remained glued in fear.

"B-Bruce?" She bit out shakily, Bruce hurried over to Penny who jumped up and wrapped her arms around one of his forearms, squeezing her eyes shut as she did so. Bruce tensed and looked to the others as he placed a hand on her arm, they waiting for the shaking to die down before they moved.

After about 6 minutes of shaking Maria Hill's voice was heard over the speaker. "We've docked, please report to the surface." Penny opened one eye at a time to see everyone visibly relax, she sighed and tried to calm herself.

"What the _hell_ was that about?" She shouted angrily, still clinging to Bruce's side.

* * *

Phil Coulson smiled when he saw the group of people walk through the door, Miss Green was approaching him and Maria at an alarming speed. Phil looked to Maria out of the corner of his eye to see her smirk and fold her arms, "What the _hell_ was that?" She shouted when she pulled to a stop.

She glared at Hill who stared her down, she turned her gaze on Phil. "We were simply landing the helicarrier Miss Green I apologize if we caused any discomfort but-"

"Discomfort?" She laughed as the remaining Avengers stood around her, "I thought I was going to be killed!" She squeaked and Coulson smiled.

"My apologies, but your cars are waiting. I'm surprised you haven't ran off here yet," We all said our goodbyes and walked towards the cars; Steve stayed behind and said a proper goodbye to the starstruck man.

"Captain Rogers?" Phil called out as Steve had walked a few paces away. He turned around to face the balding agent, "Yes?"

Phil jogged over to the Captain and held out his trading cards and a pen, "Do you think you could sign my baseball cards? I don't know when I'll be assigned to your case again." He smiled up at his hero, Steve looked shocked but nodded quickly.

"Well, yeah. Sure." He took the marker and the cards and signed each one before parting ways once again.

There was an assortment of transport available once they'd reached the port. Steve had his motorbike waiting for him, and Tony had one of his favourite cars waiting. Penny spotted a slim ginger woman waiting by the car. She was talking to a man in a black suit when she noticed us approaching, immediately stopping she ran as best as she could in her sky high heels and launched herself at Tony. They kissed immediately; Tony wrapped his arms around her small waist and spun her around.

Penny giggled, "I guess that's Pepper." She said as she nudged Bruce with her elbow. Bruce nodded and tried to figure out how they were all going to get to Stark tower with the transport they had.

"How are we-"

"Bruce! Penny!" He looked over to see Tony waving them back over, Pepper was a pretty woman with a slim figure and light freckles across her cheeks. Her hair was a light honey blonde colour that was pulled into a tight bun.

"This," he motioned to Pepper, "is my better half; Miss Pepper Potts." He grinned and she held her hand out to Bruce, "Hi I'm Pepper, you must be Bruce." He nodded and smiled courteously, "And you must be Penny?" Pepper pulled her into a hug and held her at arm's length, "It'll be nice to have a girl around for a change." She laughed and Penny joined in.

"Same here, I'm surprised I haven't grew facial hair and started belching like a pig yet." Pepper laughed and they soon got talking about future shopping trips and spa days.

Tony and Bruce started putting all the luggage in the trunk while Steve showed Thor what a motorbike was.

"How are we going to get to Stark Tower?" Bruce asked as he lifted Penny's luggage into the boot of the car. He looked over to Tony before he grabbed her backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. "In case you haven't noticed Brucey boy, there's a vehicle_ right_ here." He pushed Steve's duffle into the luggage crammed boot and shut the lid.

"Yeah but there's what? Eight of us? Nine, if you include your driver Happy. We only have a five seated car and a motorbike, that will only get seven of us there." He sighed and looked over to Pepper and Penny who were happily chatting away; Natasha had joined the fray and was complimenting Pepper on her Louboutin heels.

Tony scratched his chin, "Gang!" Everyone filled over, the girls being the last to join. "Here's the deal, we don't have a Mystery Machine." He said sadly, "But! We will have one, that I promise you. For now though, we only have, as Brucey here has pointed out, a five seated car and a motorbike. That will only get _seven_ of _nine_ to Stark tower." He let the information sink in before continuing, "So who wants to be the hero and take a cab?" He smirked.

Clint had been landed with Thor and the cab, while Tony, Pepper, Bruce, Natasha and Happy took the car.

"You sure you can deal with getting your hair messed up?" Steve asked as he revved the engine to his bike, Penny smiled and laughed easily as she slid her arms around his waist tightly, "Just go, Cap! Before I change my mind!" He nodded and sped off, following the expensive black car to Stark Tower.

**Just another little filler chapter I wacked out while my boyfriend was watching Rugby, there should be another chap up tonight or tomorrow morning; hope you enjoy! Remember, review! :)**

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	8. Chapter 8

The team had congregated in the main living area of the tower, Tony was stood behind the bar while everyone else was reclining easily on the sofas. Penny had changed into her PJ's since it was 8 'o' clock and they had decided to get takeout and watch trashy films; somehow she doubted that it would go that way though. They decided to meet up and start the film marathon at 8:15, and seeing she had some time to kill, she padded off in the direction of the lab.

Punching in the code Tony had told her earlier when he had given everybody the grand tour; she padded barefooted into the untouched room. There was all kinds of machines and tools, tools for engineering, chemistry kits, and physics equipment…You name it, Tony had it. And if he didn't, he would most likely just go out and buy it.

Whistling as she went, she grabbed a work book from one of Tony's shelves and pulled herself up onto a stool. It was a side project that Tony had decided to work on every now and then, if there was one thing she'd learnt from the past few days she had spent with him, was that once he set his mind to something, he wouldn't give up until he's accomplished it.

"Obviously that goes for research that isn't even his area…" She murmured to herself as she flipped through the pages, her interests flaring with every page. She shut the book and looked at the label on the spine, _'Synesthesia'_. Admittedly, she had heard of the area before but had never fully taken the time to look at it properly. Glancing at the clock she decided that she had enough time to read a page or two, and flipped the book open again.

* * *

"Hey can someone go grab Penny? I want to start bawling my eyes out as fast as possible." Natasha groaned sarcastically, "More like _scratch_ your eyes out." Clint mumbled against a cold pint. Pepper had first choice of film and had picked 'The Notebook'; anyone that knew Natasha could tell you that she wasn't a sappy, chick flick kind of girl; but Steve was excited about it since it was set around about the era he had 'died' in, and Tony was happy because he got to console a crying Pepper. (She had a hunch that he used that as emotional blackmail against her when he wanted something.) Thor was left questioning rather loudly how a person could magically appear inside a box that small, and Clint, well he thought pretty much the same as Natasha.

"I'm sure she'll be here in a second," Steve started as he flipped the remote over in his hand, wondering how it changed the channel. Bruce's ears perked up as he scanned the room for her familiar figure, but came up empty. Checking his watch he found that it read 8:43, nearly a half hour had passed since they'd said they would meet.

Tony watched Bruce look for her slyly and check his watch before looking around again, a frown appeared on his face. Tony walked over to him and quickly pulled him up, "Just start the film, Bruce and I will go look for Penny and bring her back down here," Pepper opened her mouth to protest but Tony beat her to the punch, "Ah, ah, ah!" She shut her mouth quickly, "We'll be back here before the bit that you always cry at, and if I'm not, I'm sure Cap here will lend you a shoulder." He grabbed Bruce's arm and pulled him out the door, "Order lots of pizza!" He called back over his shoulder before he closed the door.

"J.A.R.V.I.S, is Penny still in the building?" Tony asked quickly, heading for her room.

"Yes sir, would you like to know where she is? Or would you prefer to waste as much time as possible as to avoid the film with Miss Potts?" Bruce smirked and shot Tony a disapproving smile.

"Thank's J.A.R.V.I.S, I haven't played hide and seek since I was a kid. And what are you looking at?" He turned to Bruce, "I saw you, checking for her and then checking your watch. And then checking for her _again!"_ He laughed as they made a right turn and carried on down the corridor.

Bruce winced, "You saw that?" He asked disbelievingly, Tony just gave him a look. "Just worried about her safety is all. She was placed under our protection you know." He lied quickly.

Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket while he was talking and sent a text to Bruce.

Bruce grabbed his phone from his trouser pocket and opened the text message up, 'You've got it bad, my friend.' He chuckled and clicked on the home button, "AHA!" Tony shouted, Bruce jumped and turned to see Tony pointing at his phone. "What? What's wrong?"

Tony walked up to Bruce and pointed to the phone before looking at him and smirking, "The picture is your _wallpaper._" Bruce's smile faltered and he looked at his hand. "Just admit it; it'll be a hell of a lot painless."

Bruce put his phone away and turned to walk down the corridor, Tony quick on his heels. "Fine, I _may, _or _may not_," he raised his brow to Tony who nodded in understanding, "have some feelings for Penny."

Tony fist pumped the air and pulled him to a stop by his shoulder; "_Romantic _feelings?" He questioned hopefully, looking into his friends deep brown eyes.

Bruce sighed and blushed deeply as he looked down at his feet; he cleared his throat, "Yeah.."

Tony fist pumped again, he ran his hands through his hair in excitement. He got to play cupid. He gets to play match maker and tell horribly awkward jokes around both of them. But above all, he felt a surge of happiness for his new found friend.

He turned around to speak, but instead found Bruce knocking lightly on Penny's door.

"Penny? You in there?" He asked lightly, leaning against the doorframe. He looked over to a bouncing Tony, "Wipe that smile off your face before she comes out and realises that something's up!" He whispered harshly.

"Would that be so awkward though? Say, hypothetically, that she found out," Bruce cast a downwards glance at him, "_Hy-po-thet-I-ca-lly _being the key word of course," They walked down the corridor to the lift after deciding that she wasn't in her room. "Say she did find out, what would be so bad about that?" Tony pressed the button and turned to Bruce.

"I-I'm a, I mean…Tony." He looked to his friend and continued, "I'm at least 5 years older than her to start with, I have _no _money, no house, no car. I'm _greying at 34!_" He stressed as they stepped into the elevator and pressed a button. Tony shrugged, "Yeah but there's always 'Just for Men' for that. And some chicks dig that whole '_Silver fox' _kind of look." He reasoned.

Bruce sighed, "I have an anger problem, to put it lightly. Relationships are stressful, _women, _are stressful." Tony snickered, he had to agree with that one. "I couldn't do that to her. I couldn't put her at risk for my own selfishness."

Stepping out the elevator Tony led them down another hallway, "Does it look like she cares?" He stopped Bruce again who removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She didn't care when she knew you were the Hulk, she didn't get hurt by him when he came out to say hi-Heck! He even looked after her!" He started to shout, and Bruce replaced his glasses.

"But I have nothing to give her!" He shouted back, his heart rate rising slightly.

"That isn't how relationships work! Bruce!" He followed his friend as he walked down the hallway, "At least give it a chance."

Bruce tensed his stomach and counted to ten, like he had been taught in Brazil; his heart rate started to slow down. "Just, let it happen." Tony finished, his arms dropping to his sides in defeat. "Relationships are hard." Bruce murmured, still facing away from Tony.

"No one said it would be easy," He reasoned.

"They're stressful." Bruce replied quickly.

"Then you'll just have to work extra hard at it." Tony smiled, tasting the victory. Bruce turned around and walked back over, "Hypothetical right?" He smirked.

Tony flashed a toothy grin and nodded, "Hypothetical."

* * *

"So _this _is where you've been hiding for the past," Penny looked up to see Bruce and Tony standing in the doorway, the latter checking his watch. "Two hours." She jumped down from the stool and quickly walked around the work station to stand in front of them.

She was wearing red and white stripy shorts, a grey top that read 'Bon Temps Football' on the front in red letters, and an oversized plaid shirt that had been rolled up to the sleeves. Her hair had been pulled into a messy pony tail; a few strands that had escaped to frame her face were pushed back by her glasses that rested on her head.

She looked around at the mess she had made of Tony's lab and blushed, "I uh, got a bit carried away…" She looked back up at the smiling gentlemen and skipped back off to her previous seating position. Pulling her glasses back down she carried on working like the interruption had never happened.

"We're supposed to be watching a film," Tony started before he got cut off by Bruce.

"Not that Tony minds though, he didn't want to watch it anyway." He chuckled and followed a storming Tony over to the workspace.

"What are you even _working_ on?" He leaned over her shoulder and saw the files he had collected on Synesthesia strewn across the table. "What are you looking at this for? It's never actually been proven, they're probably just hippies high on weed…"

Penny placed her pen down and looked at him sternly, "But what if it weren't?" Tony and Bruce looked at each other as her head snapped between the two. They had never seen this side to her before; usually she was either: extremely shy, extremely happy or extremely hungry. But this Penny was different, she was dedicated and serious; she was in work mode.

"Look," She jumped down off the stool and walked over to the wall where she had drew a large brain with four different sections, "Its fine by the way, you can draw on my walls." Tony added sarcastically.

Ignoring him, she carried on. "There are hints in those papers that suggest to different _kinds_ of Synesthesia, like Grapheme – Colour where numbers or letters will be tinted with colour, or Spatial Sequence Synesthesia where a twisted number line appears in front of them; what if they just had excess 'wires' connecting the two inter-relating areas?"

Tony walked over and sat down next to Bruce, "So, is it just me that's getting turned on by this?" Tony whispered into Bruce's ear. His jaw tensed and he quickly looked to Tony who had turned his attention back to Penny. Bruce's eyes flashed between the two.

"Kinda like wires on a bridge then?" Tony questioned as if the comment had never happened. Penny brightened and jumped up and down, "Exactly!"

She turned back to her explanation and Bruce turned to face Tony, "_What?" _He bit out lowly, and Tony smirked again. "I said-"

"I know what you said!"

They quietened and looked to the front when Penny's voice wavered in suspicion, she soon continued on with her ramblings.

"So?" Tony questioned, looking down quickly to Bruce's lap. Bruce flushed out of embarrassment and anger, he fidgeted in his seat. "Hands _off_, Tony." He said through gritted teeth.

Tony chuckled, "I know big guy, I'm just messing with ya." Bruce relaxed slightly, "Seriously though, if she were my girl-"

"She's not my girl." Bruce argued back, slightly annoyed that they had ended up on this topic again. Tony only smiled. "Not yet."

* * *

By the time they had finished up in the lab, it had gone one in the morning. Bruce and Tony found what Penny had come up with quite interesting, and planned to help put her hypothesis to the test once everything was over and done with. Tony walked with them as far as the elevator and then turned to say goodnight.

"You owe me for this. I'm going to bed to an emotional Pepper who will most likely cry and beat me because I didn't return to give her a shoulder to cry on." Penny winced and Bruce pressed the button, "Ohh, you're in the dog house!" She chuckled as he pulled her in for a hug.

"What film was it?" She asked as Tony and Bruce man-hugged, "The Notebook?" He replied warily.

Penny laughed loudly, "Oh yeah! Definitely in the dog house tonight!" Sighing he turned around and walked down the hall, "I'm sure I can turn it around!" They waved and stepped into the elevator.

Penny rested her head on Bruce's shoulder. "I'm _knackered._ I don't think I've ever missed my bed so much in my entire life." Bruce chuckled as they stepped out of the elevator.

"You think you're tired? Try putting up with Tony for an hour and a half while _you _look for someone!" They giggled and Bruce remembered the conversation that he had with Tony. _Just let it happen._

They came to a stop outside Penny's door and Bruce could feel his palms starting to sweat. She smiled sweetly up at him, "Sorry about that in the lab, I guess I just got lost in it…" Bruce shook his head and smiled, "Nah, don't worry about it. We've all been there."

They smiled goofily at each other before Penny broke the silence and looked to their feet, "Well, goodnight then." Bruce nodded quickly and pulled her in for a hug like Tony had done.

His hug wasn't quick and one armed like Tony's had been, it was close and intimate. She had her head rested against his chest again and his arms fitted perfectly around her waist. Bruce didn't know how long they stood like that, but he didn't care. It just felt _right_.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, I really am quite tired…" She murmured sleepily against his shirt. He sighed, opening her door for her, he placing a chaste kiss on her forehead as he whispered, "Goodnight Penny." She grinned and whispered back, "N'night Bruce," Before slipping into her room.

**Too mushy? I do like the mushiness though. This one turned out being a bit more Tony-Bruce centric than I'd planned, but I kinda like how it turned out :) I'm going shopping with my mum tomorrow so the next chappy won't be up until tomorrow afternoon/night. **

**I might put out a filler chapter from Thor's or Cap's POV on what happened when Tony and Bruce we off searching before I post the next major chapter; if nothing but for a little bit of fun.**

**Review! Review! Review! - - - - - - - -They spur me on! :3**

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	9. Chapter 9

**Another slightly mellow chapter, but I promise things will begin to heat up soon so just bear with me :)**

Pepper found the majority of the Avengers in the kitchen, the smell of waffles and bacon excited her senses and her common sense told her that where there is food, there are men. She tapped her foot against the marble floor to make herself known but everyone was too preoccupied to notice. Penny had her head resting on her arms and was quickly falling back to sleep while next to her sat an equally tired looking Bruce.

Thor had so far devoured a staggering 14 slices of bacon, 5 cups of coffee and 18 waffles drenched in maple syrup; just watching him eat that much had put Natasha off her breakfast. She could see him eye her untouched plate every now and then, and quickly shoved it towards him unceremoniously after the 8th glance.

"Why are you two so tired?" Pepper smiled as she took a seat opposite Bruce, she heard a grumble of sounds from Penny and turned her head to Bruce, "Translation?" Bruce chuckled, "We stayed up late in the lab again." He looked at the top of Penny's head, "We should probably take a break from that you know, you've probably only had around four hours sleep."

Penny sat upright quickly and looked to Bruce, "Is that it? Four hours?" Disbelieving him she mentally worked it out in her head. _Damn! Why does he have to be right all the time? _Letting her head flop back down on her arms she groaned. She stood up and walked over to the kettle, she was filling it up with water when Tony walked in.

Tony pecked Pepper on the cheek and took a seat next to her, "Good morning people, how are we all on this _fine _morning?" He asked sarcastically, and made a point to stare at Pepper with his big brown eyes.

"Ignore him, he's just moody." Pepper smiled and concentrated on her waffles. Penny walked back over and placed two cups of coffee down, one in front of Tony and the other in front of Pepper. Opening their mouths to thank her, she wandered back over and placed another cup in front of Thor and another cup in front of Clint. Settling back down in her seat, she pushed a cup of green tea to Bruce before taking a sip of her own.

Bruce placed his book down and smiled gratefully at her, "How did you know I liked green tea?" He asked quietly, Pepper and Tony were trying to subtly argue about something or other and were quickly growing quite loud.

Penny smiled at Bruce and took another sip, "I didn't," she shrugged, "I just figured that you couldn't drink coffee because of the other guy, and I fancied green tea anyway so I thought you could try it." She smiled at him while he took a sip and folded the page of his book down. "It's meant to be calming." That was something else to add to the ever growing list of things he liked about her; she never really called the other guy the 'Hulk', Bruce admitted to her that he hadn't gotten used to it yet and liked people saying 'the other guy' around him. So since then, she'd made a point of never saying Hulk.

He chuckled, "I think Pepper and Tony need it right now more than I do." They both looked over to the pair who were, rather loudly, arguing still. Tony abruptly stood up from the table, "If I have to go so do they." He pouted like a child as Pepper glanced at Penny for help.

Sighing in defeat, she nodded. "Fine," Tony grinned and fist pumped. "But!" He stopped and stared at her. "You have to tell them. I'll meet you downstairs in 20 minutes." She smiled sweetly and left, taking her coffee with her.

"Tell us what?" Steve asked warily, fearing that changes were planned for the tower. He had yet to get use to the technology of Stark Tower and had just managed to figure out how the most basic things work with the help of Penny and Pepper. They had begun a little tutoring class for him and Thor much to the delight of Tony and Clint who thought it was hilarious.

Tony paused and debated with himself, did he break the terrible news? Or did he shield them from it?

"Guy's," He spoke with a grave tone, "I uh, I've kinda got some bad news…" He stared at his hands as everyone fell silent. Something had happened, Penny just knew it. They were coming for her, they had sent another tape she just knew it. Feeling her hand start to shake from the fear she clasped them together.

Feeling a hand take hers, she looked down and found Bruce's hand holding hers. She smiled slightly and he locked his fingers with hers.

Tony sighed and looked at everyone, he noticed Bruce was holding Penny's hand and had to stop himself from breaking out in a grin. "I'm afraid that we have to go shopping." The room deadpanned in silence as Tony smiled sadly.

"What?" Asked Steve who was more than slightly confused, "How is that bad news exactly?"

Tony shrugged, "You've obviously never been shopping with a woman Steve. They like to suck the life out of you and then-"

Penny stood up and glared dangerously at Tony, he stopped mid-sentence and stared. "Uh, you okay there Pen?" Her mother always told her that she had her grandmother's glares, dangerous. She also said that her eyes flashed green when she was angry; Tony now had proof that they did.

"You better run Stark." She pushed her stool back as Tony began to run down the corridor and to the lift, he jabbed at the button. He looked and saw her round the corner and peg it for him, her auburn hair was flying out behind her and what he recognised to be one of his jackets got discarded on the floor; the elevator was taking too long. Quickly he ran into the living room, only to find himself trapped by a very angry looking Penny.

* * *

Bruce, Steve, Thor, Natasha and Clint weren't quite sure what had happened. They exchanged confused glances before Clint spoke up, "What the hell just happened? And why do we have to go shopping?"

A cry from Tony broke everyone from their train of thought, standing up they ran to where the sound had come from. Jogging into the living room they were shocked to say the least, Tony was running around the room in a desperate attempt to shake Penny from him. She had climbed on his back and gripped on for dear life; her legs were wrapped around his waist and her arms were firmly locked around his neck to hold herself there.

Tony glanced up at his friends and spun around in a circle in one last attempt, "Don't just stand there! Get this, this _thing_ off of me!" Everyone broke out into fits of laughter, but Penny frowned at being called a thing and gently nipped his neck.

"OW!" He shouted, spinning once again. "SHE _BIT _ME!" At this point, Tony was flushed and frazzled while Penny looked victorious. Recovering slightly from the laughing fit, Bruce staggered over and pulled her from Tony's back gently.

Penny watched Tony rub his neck before he turned towards her, "You're worse than the jolly green giant over here!" He whined and motioned to Bruce who just rolled his eyes. Penny just smiled triumphantly, "Well it'll teach you to scare me like that then won't it?"

Penny saw Tony grin menacingly and start to run towards her, instinctively she yelped and ran a lap around the room with Tony hot on her tail. She grabbed Bruce's arm and wrapped it around herself before she buried her head into his side. Tony halted to a stop and without thinking, Bruce wrapped his arms around her protectively.

"Sorry Tony," He shrugged and looked down at Penny's hair.

Feeling it was relatively safe, the remaining Avengers piled into the room and sat on the furniture. "What do we have to go shopping for anyway?" Clint asked again as he rested his feet on the coffee table, needless to say that shopping was one of his least favourite past times; unless it was shopping for new weapons. Now that, he liked.

Sticking his tongue out at Penny, who quickly popped her head out and did it back before hiding again, he turned around and huffed. "Stark Industries is throwing a charity gala, very big and fancy, and Pepper has decided that you are all to attend."

Natasha grimaced at the thought, "You mean that _you _decided right?" Tony blanched and began to nod. "Technically, yeah. But Pepper want's you there too." He added sweetly onto the end, he really didn't want to attend one of these things alone. Pepper would mostly be talking business since she was now CEO, and that left him with a bunch of boring old farts. He was also under strict orders that he wasn't allowed to get drunk, so he couldn't even entertain himself that way.

"Does that mean we get pretty dresses?" Tony spun round to see that Penny had emerged from Bruce's side, but was still standing rather close for protection. "I doubt the majority of us would look good in gowns, so I'll leave that to you and Natasha. But yes, you get as you so eloquently put it, 'pretty dresses'." She faked a smile and carried on.

"I bet you'll all look _dashing _in your suits! Oh! Can I make a request?" She smiled at each of the men in the room and waited for an answer, "Oh God." Tony whispered and pinched his nose, "Fine. What is it?"

"One of you _has _to wear a bow tie! They're sooo cute!" She dragged out the vowel and clapped her hands together, Natasha began to usher them towards the lift as she remembered something about meeting Pepper in 20 minutes.

"Do you even know how we're going to be tortured? We'll be dragged around shops _all day."_ Tony whined as they waited for the elevator, "I don't see what the problem is, in my day-" Steve started but was cut off by Tony.

"In _your _day, people also only had sex with people they were married too." Steve blushed and quickly shut up. Bruce and Tony decided to wait for the next lift instead of being cramped.

Penny giggled as she turned to Tony, "I'd like to offer you moral support, but I'm afraid I have _very_ questionable morals." She winked as she saw the looks on their faces as the doors slid closed.

* * *

"How about this one?" Penny cowered as what could only be described as a ball of purple was tossed over the top of the changing room door. Standing up, she straightened it out and looked it over. It wasn't the worst, in fact, she kind of liked it. It was purple with a strapless top, it was relatively plain until it got the knees and fishtailed out. Penny couldn't help but think that it looked _very _fitted, something she wasn't completely comfortably with.

"Hey Pep?" She called warily as she eyed the gown up and down again. "Yeah?" She replied from the next stall over. "I don't think-"

"Just try it Pen!" She shouted back, finding a dress that Penny actually liked turned out to be a nightmare, and Nat was even worse. "Pepper do I have to try this one on? I look like a Barbie doll's thrown up on me." Penny heard Nat whine.

Pulling the dress off the hanger she quickly stepped into it and pulled it up, sucking her breath in she grabbed the zipper and gently pulled it upwards. Slowly letting her breath out, she looked in the mirror.

In Peppers defence, it was a pretty dress. On Penny however, it looked like she had been wrapped up in purple cling film. "Pepper! I look ridiculous!" She pushed the door open and waddled out, it was very difficult to walk in if you didn't take the steps of an ant. Stepping too quickly, she lost her balance and landed face down on the carpet. "Damn…"

"Did I ever mention that you have a _lovely_ behind Miss Green?"

She just wanted the ground to swallow her whole. Opening her eyes she saw a mixture of different kinds of men's shoes, looking up slowly she saw five very amused men.

"Shove it Stark," She rolled to her side and tried to pull herself to her knees; the dress however, had other ideas. Constricting her mobility, she flopped down on her back and spread her arms out snow angle style. "Can someone help me up please?" She mumbled, and Steve helped pull her to her feet quickly. "Thanks." She flashed him a shy smile and looked around for Pepper.

"She's gone to fetch some more dresses for you to try." Natasha walked out of a changing room in her normal clothes and no dress in sight. "What? Where's your dress?" Penny asked quickly, she could feel Nat mentally laughing at how ridiculous she looked in the cling film dress.

"I found one, Pepper's gone to pay for hers and mine." She turned to the guys, "I assume you all brought tux's?" Quirking an eyebrow she peaked in Clint's bag. "Yeah, you'll have to wait and see who's wearing the bow tie though." He smirked mischievously.

"Okay, here are some more dresses," Pepper hung eight new dresses up in the changing room and pushed her back in, closing the curtain behind her. "And we wanna see them!"

Sighing, she stepped out of the purple dress and chucked it over the top for someone to catch; she grabbed the first one off the pile and stepped out. "I hate it."

Bruce thought she was adorable when she pouted. She had a pale yellow, floor length dress on that had a pattern of fabric flowers trailing around the bottom, he thought she looked lovely, but Penny had other views. The next, was a halter neck, shiny blue number that came down to her knees. "Just, what were you thinking?" She huffed at Pepper and stormed back into the changing room.

She'd tried on five of the eight dresses before she found it. The dress of her dreams, it was perfect. "I've found it!" She screamed excitedly as she pulled it from the hanger and hurriedly tried it on. "Which one?" Pepper asked happily though the curtain, before it was ripped open.

Penny had put her normal clothes on again and was holding the pile of dresses in her arms, "What? I want to see! Which one is it?" Pepper reached out for the dresses but Penny snatched them away from her reach. "Oh no! You'll have to wait and see, consider this payback for making me try on the most _ridiculous _dresses I've ever seen"

Pepper pouted, "But you looked so pretty…"

Tony saw an opportunity and intervened, "Pepper, honey, just think of it as a surprise." She nodded and he led her to the shop door and handed Penny his credit card with a wink. "How about I take you to dinner, huh?" She heard him ask nicely. Bruce stayed behind and helped Penny hang the dresses back up.

"So which one did you decide on?" He asked curiously, she spun around holding two dresses; one silver and the other red. "It's one of these, but you'll have to wait and see!" She smiled and gently pushed him to the shop door while she went to pay, grabbing a matching pair of shoes and a purse on her way.

* * *

Tony and Bruce waved goodbye to the group as they set off on their own, Tony planned to buy Pepper some nice new jewellery to wear to the Gala. Bruce accompanied him for 'advice', why, he had no idea; he was probably the most useless person to ask advice from when it came to women.

Tony stopped to look in the window, "What about that?" He pointed to a simple white gold bangle with inset diamonds on the curves, "Uh, sure. It's pretty." Bruce mumbled awkwardly. "You probably shouldn't ask me for advice," Tony walked into the shop and paced around, "I'm not very good with gifts."

Tony pointed to a bracelet and a shop assistant got it out for him to look at, "What about this one?" It was similar to the first, but had sapphires along with diamonds. "You know, 'cause her eyes are blue and everything…" He explained awkwardly.

Bruce smiled and nodded, "She'll love it." Tony grinned and asked for it to be gift wrapped. He turned to face Bruce while he was waiting, "You know," He said, thinking up a master plan. "If you're going to ask Penny to the gala, you should really get her a gift to give her on the night." Bruce frowned, "Tony you know I can't afford-"

"Who said anything about you paying?" He grinned slyly, fanning himself with his credit card as he did so. Shaking his head Bruce scratched his chin, "And you know I can't let you pay for it either. You've already paid for my tux and-"

"Look, if you don't then I will. And I'm sure you'll be able to jump in bed with her even quicker if you give her something she'll love." He smirked and thanked the man who handed him the small bag. They headed began walking down the street to another jewellers.

"I don't want to jump into bed with her Tony." Bruce sighed, "Fine, tap it, whatever."

Bruce stopped and looked at his friend in confusion, "Tap what?" He began walking again, Tony pulled him into a shop and chuckled. "Never mind, just," He faced Bruce and lowered his voice, "Let me do this. Okay? You can pay me back by keeping Pepper off my back for a few days. She's been acting weird lately." Bruce nodded in defeat and looked around before Tony spoke confidently.

"Good, now. Let's find some pretty jewellery for a pretty Penny shall we?"

**God I love mush, aha. Just to let people know, Penny's eyes didn't actually flash green. Her eyes are green anyway, but it's just a saying. My Nan says it all the time to me when I'm annoyed, so yeah :) In case anyone was a bit confused! Sorry if this chap is a bit naff, it's 2:20am here and I'm **_**shattered. **_

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	10. Chapter 10

It was the day before the gala, and Penny had taken to strolling around Stark Tower in search for something interesting to do. Usually, she either helped Bruce and Tony with whatever they were doing in the lab, or she watched television with Thor and Steve. Steve liked the History channel best, "It helps me understand and learn the things that have happened while I've been MIA." He says when Tony questions him, Thor, on the other hand likes to watch wrestling.

She was whistling along the corridor when she heard sobbing coming from the toilets. It sounded like a woman, and she guessed that Natasha didn't really cry; she didn't even know if she was capable of producing tears. So that only left one person.

"Pepper?" She asked through the door, "Pepper are you okay? It's me, Penny." The door clicked unlocked and Penny opened the door and walked in. Pepper was huddled in a ball on the floor, crouching next to the toilet. She smiled up at Penny through the tears before hunching over the toilet bowl to vomit.

Stepping into action, Penny pulled Peppers hair back so she didn't get any sick in it. "Pepper if you're ill then you should probably go lie down…" Pepper shook her head quickly as she sat back on her bum, Penny slid down the wall to sit next to her. "No," She sobbed, "I'm not ill."

Penny smiled, "I used to say that all the time, but trust me once you're in bed you'll feel-"

"I'm pregnant." She choked out quickly, and Penny stopped her pep talk. Pepper began to cry into Pennys shoulder as she instinctively placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to her consolingly. Tony Stark was going to be a father. He would have to physically look after someone, Penny wasn't even sure if he could look after himself properly, let alone a baby.

"That's great Pep," She whispered, still in shock from the sudden revelation, "So why are you crying?" Pepper sniffed and wriggled before answering.

"Because I _can't _be a mum. And Tony _certainly _can't be a dad!" She placed a timid hand on her stomach, "How are we meant to look after him? Tony's off being Iron Man, I'm CEO of the company. He'll be in danger, constantly! And I don't want that, nobody would. And as if that isn't enough, we've both got far too busy lives for a child, he'd never see us!" Pepper sighed and started to cry into Penny's shoulder again.

"He?" She smiled slightly, and Pepper laughed. "Yeah, he. It just _feels _like a he, you know?" Pepper smiled and sat up straight. Penny laughed, she didn't know. She'd never gotten that close to someone to even talk about having children, let alone actually be pregnant.

"Yes Pepper, as you can see by my many invisible children." They both laughed dryly, standing up Pepper's smile faded. She looked to her friend with worried eyes, there was so much that could go wrong.

"What if Tony doesn't want it?" She asked quietly, biting her lip as soon as the question left them. Penny's smile faltered too, "That's just something you'll have to deal with when it comes to it Pep," Pepper looked up at her, "But for now, how about you just focus on actually telling him?"

Pepper nodded as they walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her, Pepper made her way towards the lab. "I think Tony would make a great dad." Penny whispered, Pepper was slightly shocked by her statement, she never thought the words 'Tony' and 'Dad' went together in the same sentence. But looking at the situation, she had hope.

Pepper bit her lip again, "I'm going to go tell him now. Come with me?" Pepper asked as she pushed the button for the lift, Penny nodded. "I'll come with you, but I think you should tell Tony on his own. It might be better that way." She smiled reassuringly at the ginger woman, they spent the ride down to the lab in silence.

"Ah! If it isn't my two favourite women come to visit!" Tony chuckled happily, seeing the stern looks on their faces he quickly quietened. "What's happened?" He asked quickly, looking at Bruce and then the women again.

Penny marched over to where Bruce was working and slid her hand in his, "Come on big guy, Tony and Pepper need to talk." Bruce let himself be led out of the lab quietly, taking pleasure in the small contact.

"Talk? What for?" Tony asked worriedly, Pepper released Bruce's hand and gave Pepper a hug before they climbed into the elevator. Pressing the button for the roof, the doors slid closed. Penny prayed that Tony took it well, if he didn't then Pepper would be crushed.

* * *

"What's going on?" Bruce asked nervously as he took Penny's small hand back in his large rough ones. They walked onto the roof and sat on the sofa Tony had put up there, Penny huffed and looked out at the sunset.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them before continuing, "Pepper's pregnant." She said slowly, and glanced at Bruce for his reaction. He wore a smile as he looked out at the busy New York City. "How did that happen?" He asked quietly.

Penny giggled, "Well you see Bruce, when two people love each other very much they-"

Bruce held his hands up in surrender, "Okay! Okay! Stupid question, I know." He chuckled, and slyly placed an arm around Penny's shoulders. His heart beat quickened in excitement, the gala was tomorrow and he still had yet to ask her.

"I know, I just like teasing you." She smiled and let her head rest on his shoulder, adjusting so she was flush against his side. She could feel her nerve ending stand on end as her heart beat speed up considerably.

"How do you think Tony will take it?" She asked quietly, Bruce let out a breath and searched the sky.

"Well, I think. I mean, he'll be shocked at first. Who wouldn't be? But I think he'll quickly brighten, for some reason, I can imagine Tony making a great dad." Penny smiled, she had thought the same, but Pepper's doubt made her uneasy; "Same here." She said as they fell into a comfortable silence with each other.

"Do you have any kids Bruce?" She asked, biting her lip and cringing once she did so. She didn't like the idea of Bruce having a family with someone, she knew it sounded selfish, but she hated it. She hated the thought that he once had a happy family with kids and a dog and a wife. She felt like such a terrible person.

He laughed dryly, "No, I was always too busy with my work to even think about settling down." He paused, "Do uh, do you have any children? Or a husband or anything?" He felt stupid for asking and he could feel his cheeks heat up; _if she did have a husband then she wouldn't be cuddled into your side numnuts._

Penny laughed out loud uncontrollably, "No," She said sternly, "I was _way_ too busy for that. But someday maybe." She laughed and rested comfortably against him.

"Someday?" He asked, She giggled. "Yeah, everyone wants that whole 'big house with a picket fence, a husband and kids' dream right?" She smiled up at him shyly. Bruce nodded but faltered a bit when he tried to smile.

"Yeah…" He trailed off, he doubted that he'd ever be able to have children because of the accident, there would be too much risk in passing it onto them and he wouldn't want to risk it; he _couldn't_ risk it.

"I'M GOING TO BE A DADDY!" They heard from downstairs, running over to the edge, they saw Tony shouting it off his balcony quite happily. They both smiled and laughed at the hilarious sight.

"Well," She said leaning on the rails as she turned to face Bruce. "At least now we know how he's taken it." Bruce grinned in response, "God help that child, it will be the most spoiled baby around."

Penny nodded in agreement, "At least now he shouldn't be too grumpy for the Gala tomorrow." The gala. Bruce still had to ask her, but how?

"Yeah, about that…" He trailed off, searching for the right words. Penny glanced at him worriedly, "You're still going aren't you?" She asked quickly, Bruce looked at her wide green eyes.

"Yes, I don't think Tony would let me miss it. But I was wondering…" He trailed off again and fiddled with his fingers before turning to face Penny fully; Penny quirked her eyebrow in confusion.

"Would you, I mean, I understand if you don't. But uh-well I," He chanced a glance at her face and mustered his courage as he took a deep breath in, "Would you, want to maybe, be my date? For the gala?" He stared at his hands as he felt a heated blush creep up his neck and onto his cheeks. What if she said no?

Penny smiled the biggest smile and mentally squealed with delight. "I'd love to Bruce." She answered excitedly, a blush forming on her cheeks too.

Bruce looked up at her in shock to see her smiling and blushing, _well that's a good sign!_ He grinned and nodded awkwardly, searching for something to say next. "Great, I think we're all traveling there together so I don't need to pick you up…Uh…" What should he say? He had no clue when it came to women, and even less of a clue when it came to women he had feelings for.

"Bruce," She smiled as he looked at her shyly, "relax." She said soothingly as she grabbed his hand. Remembering the tips that Tony had given him, he quickly gave a tug on her hand and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her as he did so.

Penny giggled joyously, "Was that one of Tony's moves?" She had seen him use it on Pepper many a time when he wanted something, more often than not, it was when she was withholding kisses from him. Her laughter quickly died out when she realised how close they were, their bodies were pressed flush against each other and his hands rested on her lower back.

Bruce could feel his body heat up at the contact, and tried to push everything else out of his mind and just concentrate on the moment. Penny looked up into his big brown lion eyes as he spoke softly, "So you'll go with me?" He asked one more time as their heads began to gravitate towards each other, each turning in opposite directions slightly.

Penny gulped, "I'd love to, Dr Banner…" His lips were soon on hers and she felt like she'd been set alight. Their lips worked in synchronisation as his hand gently travelled slowly up her back and into her hair. Bruce quickly made to deepen the kiss and licked Penny's lower lip, allowing him entrance their tongues began to explore the others mouth. Her hands moved from his chest and to his neck, one rested there while the other ran its fingers in his curls happily. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, both wrapped up in the other as their thoughts and troubles faded away.

Slowly breaking apart, they rested their foreheads together and smiled happily. "I never thought you'd actually kiss me." Bruce admitted, and Penny dipped her head for another kiss. Pulling away she giggled to herself, "And here I was thinking that you'd never kiss _me." _Smiling, they decided to head downstairs and congratulate the new parents; but not before having a quick kissing session in the lift.

* * *

The living room was filled with smiles and drinks when they walked in, Pepper noticed them and quickly ran towards Penny who met her halfway. The girls smiled at each other and hugged again, "I'm so happy for you! See? What did I say? I told you he'd be fine!" Penny grinned as she pulled away.

Bruce had walked over to Tony and shook his hand and congratulated him, "I'm happy for you," He said sincerely and glanced at the hugging women quickly. "Thanks, did you ask Penny yet?" He asked quietly as Bruce grinned as Tony took in their appearances; both had slightly messed up hair with flushed cheeks, each sporting slightly swollen looking lips.

Tony looked at Bruce surprised, and grinned before clapping him on the back. "You did the move?" He asked proudly, Bruce nodded and smiled goofily at his friend, "Yeah," He replied shyly.

"I'm telling you my friend," They began to walk over to the rest of the group who had taken to patting Peppers stomach, "You can't fault the move, works every time." Bruce certainly had to agree with that.

* * *

Loki was sitting in the chair that they had killed the doctor in, he had taken a liking to it and had started sitting in it everyday to think. It was the one place the idiotic mortals knew not to enter, he'd made a point of that when one of them disturbed him. It had been six days since S.H.I.E.L.D would have received the tape, and there was still no sign of Penny. Standing up, he walked out of the room and into the kitchen area where the mortals spent the majority of their time.

"Get ready, we're moving tomorrow." Loki stated as he stood at the head of the table, one of them looked up at him.

"Why did we wait a week before going to get her? We've jut gave them time to prepare for us!" He shouted angrily, Loki glared but ignored him; he couldn't afford to kill another one off. Not yet anyway.

"So _we_ have time to prepare also you insolent mortal!" He snarled before recovering and smoothing out his We make attack as soon as they've been lulled into security." Loki spun on his heel and walked to the doorway before pausing.

"Security? Sir?" One of the smarter croonies asked, Loki turned back slightly.

He smirked menacingly before answering, "The Iron Man is holding a gala, and we'll be paying a visit."

**They kissed! They finally kissed! :'D Remember to review and tell me how I'm doing :)**

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	11. Chapter 11

**Just a quick note to say a **_**MASSIVE THANK YOU! **_**I've gotten over 100 emails saying you guys have reviewed, alerted and favourited! I love you guys so much so as a treat I've wrote an extra long chapter, I hope you enjoy :D**

**Just so it's not so confusing, a line break = a short amount of time passing.**

Penny groaned as Pepper pulled the curtains open, allowing the sunlight to sting her eyes. Burying her face in the pillows she groaned loudly, "Pepper! Why are you waking me up at," Propping herself up on her elbows she looked over at her clock,"11:15…" She glanced up at an impatient Pepper.

Rolling out of bed she slipped into her slippers and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth, giving her mouth a quick swill with some mouth wash she walked back out to find Pepper sat on her bed. "So, what's up?"

Pepper smiled and stood up, "The gala. It's tonight and we're already behind schedule, I'll give you 30 minutes to dress and grab some breakfast;" She opened the door, "I'll meet you and Natasha in the lobby in 30, no later!" She shut the door and left Penny wondering what kind of torture Pepper had planned for them today.

Pulling a pair of skinny jeans from her draw she grabbed some clean underwear and pulled them on. Plucking her favouite blue Star Wars tee shirt out of her suitcase, she pushed her hair into a ponytail and headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

"So, sleeping beauty has finally awoke. Did Bruce give you true love's kiss to get you to wake up?" Tony drawled sarcastically and placed his coffee down. Bruce smiled shyly as Penny sat down next to him at the breakfast bar. He pushed a cup of green tea in front of her, leaning in he grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on her cheek. Penny smiled and took a sip of her tea, "Good morning to you too, Mr Banner." She grinned.

Tony fake gagged and the couple turned to face him, both quirking their eyebrows. "What?" Tony asked innocently. "If it's any consolation, I think you two are simply adorable."

They both flushed as Nat walked in the room, "Time to go," She said as she came to a stop by the door, "Pepper's waiting for us. Apparently we have a very important mani-pedi and hair appointment." Penny groaned and clung to Bruce's arm, she looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes. "_Please_ don't let me go through this torture!" Bruce chuckled and stood up to walk them to the elevator.

"Sorry Pen, but I'm under strict orders from Pepper to get you and Natasha down to the lobby." He placed his arm around her waist as the three walked to the elevator and pressed the button. Penny sighed in defeat and hugged him around the waist, Bruce was still getting used to the fact that him and Penny were dating, so whenever she showed any affection for him, he got a little nervous about it and blushed.

Returning the hug, the elevator doors opened and Natasha stepped inside. "Sorry to break up the love fest, but we gotta get going." Bruce dipped his head and quickly kissed Penny. Pulling away they said their goodbyes as Penny prepared for a day of pure girly torture.

* * *

"Remind me why I let myself get roped into this?" Penny mumbled to Natasha so Pepper wouldn't hear, "So she won't go all hormonal on us, remember?" She whispered back quickly, ever since they had found out she was pregnant they had taken to tip toeing around her, they didn't want to get caught in a hormone crossfire; especially today.

"Although," Natasha continued, "my nails do look lovely…" Nat commented as Pepper walked over.

"Ready to get your hair done girls?" Pepper smiled brightly, plastering fake smiles on their faces Penny and Natasha nodded stiffly. "Sure." Penny nodded and stood up with Natasha hot on her tail.

"Don't worry, if they mess it up, I'll break their necks with my thighs." Penny blanched and stared at her red headed friend as she walked past her, winking as she did so; Penny laughed to herself and shook her head in disbelief.

* * *

"You can do this." She said to herself sternly.

Smoothing her dress down she twirled side to side in front of her mirror before smoothing it out again. Quickly turning to her vanity mirror, she put a pair of diamond earrings Pepper had lent her in and walked back over to stand in front of her mirror. There was a knock at the door, breathing in deeply she sighed. "Come in."

Natasha opened the door and leaned in, "We're all ready, Thor's girlfriend Jane is here too. She's pretty nice." Penny smiled and turned to face her, to say that she looked beautiful would be an understatement. Her red hair had been messed up with styling products and styled into a messy bed head look, she had simple plum coloured studs in her ears and the most stunning dress Penny had ever seen.

It was a plum colour that matched her earrings, the majority of the dress was made out of lace and had two tones to it; a lighter plum and a deeper purple. It was floor length and ended at her collar bone, her make up was subtle but sported a classy smokey eye and nude lips. "You look beautiful Nat." Natasha smiled as Penny exited the room with her. "You too Pen, you'll make the doc's heart rate speed up in no time." She smirked sneakily as she turned, Penny noticed that the back of the dress had no back, but rather a large hole that started from the nape of her neck and ended just above the base of her back.

"Bit like Clint's will when he sees you then?" She retorted wittily as they walked down the corridor, stopping just before the entrance to the living room. Natasha walked in ahead of her but stopped and looked back, "You coming in?" Penny nodded and took a moment to gather her thoughts. Taking a deep breath, she walked in.

Bruce felt a nudge in his side and looked to Tony in annoyance; his gaze however, wasn't on him but on the door, following his gaze he saw why.

Penny was stood awkwardly in the doorway, her hands fiddled together in front of her. Bruce couldn't help but think that she looked stunning; her dress was a soft grey colour that fell to the floor in soft waves, from the hip up the dress had light grey embellishments on that followed over one shoulder and onto the back, the other was left completely bare; he felt like the luckiest man in the world when she looked over and smiled at him.

She quickly made her way over to Bruce who met her halfway. "You look…Stunning." He stuttered as the nerves began to kick in, Penny giggled and smiled, "And you look _very_ handsome in your bow tie and tux, if I do say so myself Mr Banner." Bruce flushed and looked down to his shoes before meeting her gaze again; he offered her his arm once he'd recovered. "Shall we?" He asked teasingly, "We shall!" She replied happily.

He lead her over to the group of friends who were waiting patiently, "Aww I knew it was that one!" Pepper gushed over the dress as she pulled her in for a hug, "You look gorgeous Pep," Penny smiled as she took in her appearance. The dress was a faded copper colour that was tight until is flared out at the bottom, it had intricate diagonal pleats in the sheer material. Her wrists had expensive looking diamond bracelets on and dangling earrings. "You don't think it clashes with my hair?" Pepper asked worriedly, Penny shook her head, "Nope," Pepper relaxed a little. "You look beautiful Pepper."

The majority of the men had relatively similar tuxes on, Clint, Thor and Steve had opted for sleek black ties, while Tony and Bruce made a statement with their bows. Penny couldn't help but notice how Clint kept chancing glances at Natasha. Penny was pulled out of her thoughts by Tony placing a hand around her waist.

"You, my pretty Penny, look _fabulous._ And doesn't Bruce just look spiffing in his suit and bow tie?" He asked condescendingly as they looked at the nervous man who had wandered over to Thor and a woman who she assumed to be Jane. Pepper laughed as she looked at Tony, "Yeah, just think, next time we'll all be in suits and dresses will be yours and Peppers wedding." Tony's mouth fell open as Penny quickly walked over to talk to Steve.

Thor tapped her on the shoulder and she excused herself from her conversation. "Lady Penelope, this is Jane Foster." Penny looked at a small woman with mousy brown hair that had been pulled back in a sleek bun, she wore a red off the shoulder dress that had encrusted jewels around the waist.

Penny held out her hand, "Hi, I'm Penny, it's really nice to finally meet you. Thor talks about you all the time." She smiled politely as Jane shook her hand.

"It's really nice to meet you too, Thor talks about you quite a bit too actually. Only good stuff though, obviously!" She altered quickly as she smiled awkwardly and sighed, "Hey Jane when do we get to start drinking?" Penny heard a female voice say.

A big busted young woman appeared beside Thor in a tight to the knee white dress, her brown hair was left down in slight waves. "Oh, hi." She smiled at Penny who returned it politely. "This is Darcy, Darcy this is Penny." Jane introduced them as they shook hands. "So, which one of these hotties are you dating? Oh! Is it the smoking hot blonde dude? 'Cause if it is, then I'm jealous. But you know, someone's gotta lick those abs." She rambled nonchalantly as Penny felt herself turn the shade of Jane's dress; Jane looked like she had also copied the colour.

"Sorry to disappoint, but that would be me." Bruce appeared behind Penny and wrapped an arm protectively around her waist and pulled her slightly against him. To say that he was slightly annoyed was an understatement, he knew that he wasn't the best looking of men; he knew that. But he thought that he had at least some appeal. But then when you compared him to the other men in the room, who would look twice at him? _Penny would._ A deep guttural voice sounded from the deepest parts of Bruce's mind; the Hulk.

Smiling sweetly Darcy began to back away slowly, leaving Penny and Bruce alone. Spinning in his arms she looked up into his face, "You know I didn't listen to a single word she said, right?" She asked cautiously as her green eyes bore into his brown ones. He sighed and nodded, "Yeah. But maybe she has a point, I mean look at me Penny. You deserve so much better-"

Penny silenced him quickly by wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a gentle kiss on his lips. Pulling back slightly she looked into his eyes as she mumbled against them, "Bruce Banner, I don't want anyone but you; all of you. Okay?" Bruce opened his mouth to speak but Penny pecked his lips again and spoke for him, "Even if that means the other guy tags along for the ride too." He smiled against her lips and kissed her again.

"I must have been a saint in a past life." He laughed against her lips before he pulled back abruptly, "I almost forgot!"

Bruce fished in his pocket for the slim, long box and pulled it out. Penny's eyes grew wide as he opened the lid to reveal a beautiful floral antique locket with encrusted diamonds. Running her fingers over it she could feel her eyes begin to tear up as a few fell onto her cheeks.

Noticing this, Bruce quickly wiped them away with his thumb. "Hey don't cry, if you don't like it I can-"

"No!" Bruce looked at her confused, "I love it Bruce, I really, really love it. It's just…" Her eyes began to fill up again so she reached a finger up to trap the tears. "It's just beautiful, I didn't even think to buy you anything…" She trailed off as Bruce heaved a sigh of relief, spinning her around he placed the locket around her neck and clasped it together. She twirled around to show him, "Perfect." He said simply while intertwining his fingers with hers.

"Oh yeah," He fiddled with the locket and it popped open, inside there sat a miniature version of the picture Tony had taken of them on the helicarrier. Penny grinned and hugged Bruce before kissing him on the nose and walking over to show Pepper.

"Okay people!" Tony shouted over the talking; conversations stopped and everyone turned to where he was standing, "The cars are downstairs. Thor, Jane, Darcy and Eric will go in one car while Steve you're riding with Clint and Natasha. Bruce and Penny, you're with me and Pepper." He nodded as everyone began to make their way to the elevator.

* * *

"Wow." Penny murmured as Bruce helped her out of the car, there were flashing cameras everywhere, the people behind them fought and shouted for Tony and Pepper's attention. Luckily, Bruce and Penny didn't have that trouble, until Tony called them back.

"This is my _very _good friend Dr Bruce Banner and his _stunning_ girlfriend Miss Penelope Green!" He announced to the paparazzi who immediately started to snap more pictures of the two couples and shout for interviews. Their car had been the last to arrive, and so the others had managed to walk in without this much trouble; '_lucky buggers'_ Penny thought bitterly.

The gala was held in a grand ballroom with a dance floor, romantic decorations were placed everywhere and there was even a grand staircase; it was like a fairy-tale with a bar and alcohol added.

Walking to their designated table, Penny and Bruce met up with the rest of the Avengers and took a seat. A waiter walked over and placed golden bubbly champagne in front of everyone before bowing and walking off. Picking up her funnel glass Penny took a sip and turned to Bruce who was biting his lip lightly.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she placed a worried hand on his arm, turning towards her he inclined his head to the champagne. "I uh, I don't know if I can drink alcohol without hulking out." He admitted.

Nodding, Penny picked up his glass and passed it to him. "Time to find out then." Gulping, he brought the liquid to his lips and took a hesitant sip. Penny held her breath and waited; when nothing happened she smiled, "See? You'll be fine. Just try not to have too many if you're worried." Smiling triumphantly, he took another sip without worrying.

* * *

They had been sat around the table for a couple of hours, just talking and socialising with each other, when Bruce found himself getting slightly bored. He was currently in the middle of a conversation about work that he was quickly losing interest in. The only thing that kept him talking was the fact that if he stopped he'd be even more bored since Penny was talking animatedly with Jane and Darcy.

He's hopped that tonight he could spend some time with Penny, and even though he knew they were there to make Tony look good, he wanted time for just her and him. Tony and Pepper showed up to the table as Pepper quickly took a seat.

"And how are my wonderful friends? Enjoying themselves, I hope." Tony asked, sitting down on a chair he pulled another glass of champagne from a passing waiter's tray.

"Has anyone danced yet?" Pepper asked hopefully, looking out at the dance floor as she did. "I don't think I've seen any of you leave the table yet." She scolded as she glanced around at the guests. Shaking their heads one by one, they frowned out of fear of Pepper's pregnancy hormones. Calmly, she breathed in and sighed.

An idea popped into Bruce's head, turning to Penny he stood up and held his hand out for hers, "Would you like to dance Miss Green?" He smirked.

Smiling, she stood up and took his hand. "I'd love to Mr Banner." She replied humorously.

Leading her onto the dance floor he placed one hand on her hip and the other held one of her hands; Penny's hand rested on Bruce's shoulder as he took the other.

"I feel kind of selfish," Bruce started to admit, "I only asked you to dance because I wanted you to myself for a while." He flashed her a toothy smile as he dipped her, causing her to break out in laughter.

"I think I can forgive you," She smiled, and began to hum gently.

The song suddenly changed to one of Penny's favourites and the lights dimmed, 'So Close' by John McLaughlin started to play and she spotted Pepper giving her the thumbs up from behind Bruce's back; she had definitely been through her IPod. Turning around she saw the singer himself along with a band on stage, her jaw dropped and reminded herself to thank Pepper later.

"Shall we?" Bruce asked as couples gathered on the dance floor. Nodding, Penny and Bruce walked to a better spot on the floor.

'_You're in my arms, and all the world is calm.  
The music playing on for only two.  
So close together, and when I'm with you  
So close, to feeling alive.'_

Penny placed her hand in Bruce's and the other on his shoulder as his hand gently found her waist.

'_A life goes by,' _They began dancing when the piano and violins started to play. _'Romantic dreams will stop.  
So I bid mine goodbye and never knew,  
So close with waiting, waiting here with you.  
And now forever I know, all that I wanted to hold you so close._

_So close to reaching that famous happy ending,  
Almost believing, this was not pretend.'  
_

Bruce began to sing along gently, "Now you're beside me, and look how far we've come." He began to lean in to sing into Penny's ear, she smiled gently, "So far, we are, so close." Penny rested her head against Bruce's shoulder for a moment; pulling back they began to dance again as the instrumental started.

He spun her as a spot light was focused on them and the other couples moved to form a circle around them; neither noticed as they were completely lost in each other.

Twirling her again he picked her up with one arm before placing her down and pulling her close to him as the music slowed down again.

'_Oh, how could I face the faceless days  
If I should lose you now?_

_We're so close to reaching that famous happy end  
And almost believing this was not pretend  
Let's go on dreaming for we know we are'_

The couples slowed down with the music, Bruce and Penny moved closer together. Bruce began to sing again, his face close to Penny's. "So close, so close and still so far…" Their lips moved towards each other's in a romantic kiss in the middle of the floor, oblivious to the world they smiled into it and kissed again.

Blushing, they noticed the crowd around them. "I think they liked it." Penny whispered quietly, Bruce nodded and murmured back into her ear, "Unfortunately, I don't share." He said as they began to sway to the next song.

* * *

"Mind if I cut in?" Tony asked Bruce, looking between the two. "Course not," Tony smiled and took Bruce's place in the dance.

"So I saw the Disney scene back there." Penny flushed at the comment as Tony dipped her, "I have to say, I was very impressed. I'm so impressed that I was tempted to ask him for a dance instead of you." Tony teased while they glided across the floor, surprisingly, he was a very good dancer.

Penny quirked an eyebrow, "Oh really?" She smiled slyly.

"Oh yeah. By the way, what did he say when he went close to your ear?" Tony fished for information, he needed to be the first to know. He had to be. After all, he helped them get together so why shouldn't he be allowed a certain amount of info?

Penny blushed before continuing, "He um, he sang to me." She blushed harder and Tony sighed. "Damn, does he know how _high_ he's set the bar for the rest of us? Pepper was gushing so much I thought she was going to collapse." She laughed loudly as the song ended, they broke apart and Tony took Penny's hand and kissed it.

"May I have a quick dance?" A tall man with combed black hair asked politely, looking between Tony and Penny. Tony looked to her for a sign for what to do, glancing around she saw Bruce chatting to Steve and Thor. She shrugged, "Just a quick one?" The man smiled and nodded as Tony left, looking between them closely.

They began to dance in silence before Penny decided to break it, "I'm Penny by the way, what's-"

She felt something hard and cold press into her side, gulping she glanced at the man and then down; he was holding a gun to her side. Opening her mouth to shout, he quickly said what he had been told to say.

"Scream and everyone here will die, including you." He spat through clenched teeth. Forcing a smile, she spoke back, "No you won't, you need me." He chuckled dryly at her boldness.

"Smart one aren't we? You're right, I won't kill you. But that doesn't mean that I can't shoot you anyway." She had to think of a way out of this, glancing around no one was paying attention. They just looked like they were dancing, she willed Bruce to come over; for anyone to come over.

"Loki will make his appearance soon and then…Well, then the _real _party starts." He smiled threateningly, Penny swallowed hard.

A loud boom was heard suddenly as a wall was blown down, the guests began to scream and run as chaos broke out. Taking that as a chance to escape, she kicked him in the shin and tried to pull out of his grasp.

"Penny?" She heard Bruce shout over the noise, she struggled even more to get free. "Bruce!" She shouted as loud as she could, she fumbled in her desperate attempt for freedom.

Cursing, he moved one of his hands to his shin and Penny managed to pull away slightly, but his hand quickly shot out and grabbed her wrist again tightly. Still pointing the gun at her side, a horrified civilian bulldozed past and knocked into him.

A loud gunshot echoed around the hall as Penny let out a strangled cry and collapsed to the floor, everyone began to run and scream in a frightened frenzy.

"Penny!" She could hear her name being shouted, but couldn't concentrate on the voice. All she could concentrate on was the searing pain in her side, pressing her hand against the wound she saw deep red blood stain her hand and her dress. Lifting her head she looked for the man but couldn't see him, she gritted her teeth and used her free arm to pull herself over to the nearest table; glancing up every now and then she looked for a familiar face but found none.

She could hear Thor's hammer and Tony's repulser's from the Iron Man suit close by and she prayed she was moving in the right direction. Using a chair, she pulled herself onto it and willed herself to stand. She stumbled about in a random direction, her hand still pressed against her wound.

"Penny!" She heard Bruce's voice again, it sounded rougher than last time. She wanted nothing more than to just be in his arms; she needed him, she needed help.

Looking ahead she saw Bruce run into her line of vision, "Bruce!" She tried to shout, but it came out strangled.

Hearing someone call his name, he turned and prayed that it was Penny. There she was standing across the dance floor. _She's safe._

Her hand was pressed lazily against her side where her dress was stained red; _why's her dress red?_ He wondered, and the pieces soon clicked together as his eyes grew wide. The gunshot, the red stains, her hand.

"No…" He murmured and began walking. "No!" He shouted, rushing forward his vision started to blur into green as his heart rate quickened. He willed himself to control it, he couldn't change. Penny _needed him._ She needed _him_, not the Hulk. _Just let me get her to safety big guy, then you can smash whoever did this into oblivion._

Penny took a small, shaky step towards Bruce, she smiled through the pain and took another. He was there, she would be safe, she could-

"Not so fast," She heard behind her.

"NO!" Bruce yelled as he saw Loki appear behind her, he gritted his teeth and pushed his legs harder and faster. His heart rate was on the edge, anymore and he'd change whether he wanted to or not.

Penny turned enough to see Loki stood behind her with a metal bar raised above his head, she began to scream, but it died in her throat. Seeing him grin wildly she froze and turned around to see Bruce's muscles bulging and his skin turn a shade of green before her world plummeted into darkness.

**Oh I'm mean. The scene where they danced to the song 'So Close' was based off the Disney film Enchanted since I was watching it when I was writing, here's the song and the scene so you can see how I imagined it :) ** watch?v=AHnZ_vtyJ6E

**I tried to make this flow as smoothly as possible but I don't think it does in some places, so for that I apologize. But! Remember to click that little blue button and leave me your thoughts on the drama! Everything's starting to heat up now, so I can promise things will be getting more interesting from here on out!**

**-Readers Assemble!-**_  
_


	12. Chapter 12

**Sooo…That little cliffhanger got the response I wanted, I may have to do one of them every now and then to keep you all on your toes :) Oh I'm mean. **

Tony's main priority was Pepper. He had to get her out of there; he knew he'd never forgive himself if her or the baby were harmed. He quickly grabbed her hand as she yelped in surprise; tears were pouring down her face from fear.

"Shh, Pepper it's me!" Flinging herself at him he gave her a quick gentle squeeze before pushing her over to Jane and Darcy, "Stay together, all of you. We'll be out soon, now go!" Tony spoke quickly as the women nodded, they were lost in the crowd within seconds.

Kicking into action, he ran to the stage and reached under, feeling around he felt the briefcase that contained a compacted version of his Iron Man suit; he couldn't take any chances anymore and had to have it with him. He suited up hastily as he saw Natasha pull out a gun from a holster on her thigh, her dress now sporting a rip up either side.

Seeing Bruce run in front of him he chased after him, "Bruce!" He turned around and spoke promptly, "Have you seen Penny? Did she get out yet? I can't find her Tony!" His eyes were no longer on the Iron Man suit; they had started to painfully scan the room again.

If Bruce hadn't found her yet then maybe she had already managed to get outside? She could already be with Pepper and Jane, but then he remembered the man she had danced with. There was something not quite right about him…

An ear splitting noise echoed around the room, whipping their heads around they searched for any signs that someone had been injured. "That sounded like a gun shot." Tony mused seriously, if they didn't sort this out fast, things would start getting even more out of hand than they already were.

Turning to a panic stricken Bruce, he spoke quickly. "I'll find the others and ask them if they've seen Penny, if they haven't then I'll get up high and try to find her. You stay down here and keep looking." Nodding Bruce began to jog off; Tony placed an Iron hand on his arm. "Stay calm, we'll find her."

Running over to the two S.H.I.E.L.D agents he spoke quickly, "If you see Penny, tell her to go outside and find Pepper and Jane. Tell her to stay with them, okay?" Not waiting for an answer, he relayed the message to Thor and Cap before shooting to the ceiling for a better look.

"Who the hell are we even fighting…" Scanning the room he searched for sight of Penny or her dress. Coming up empty, he searched for the guy that she had been dancing with, if he could find him then maybe he would know which way she went.

After a few minutes scanning, Tony found him limping towards the exit, swooping in, Tony landed in front of him and grabbed his collar roughly.

"Listen, _pal!_" Something metal clincked off of his armour and he stopped talking, looking down he saw a silver gun. _The gunshot…Penny!_ Looking back up to his eyes, Tony was met with a smug expression.

Punching him firmly in the face he nodded, "That felt good…" He murmured as he grabbed his unconscious body by his shirt collar. He dragged him over and dumped him on the floor harshly in front of Natasha and Clint.

"What the hell are you-"

"Take him outside and section him from the crowd. He was carrying a gun," He flung it at Clint who caught it easily, "call Fury and tell him to send backup," Tony sighed as his heart began to thump wildly against his rib cage, "and a medic. I think-"

An unmistakeable outcry filled the room as the Avengers turned towards to face a now much bigger, much stronger, Dr Banner.

"Get everyone outside." Natasha heard the orders, but flashbacks from that day on the helicarrier came back full force and froze her to the spot. "_Now!" _Tony cried as he shot up to hover in front of an angered Hulk.

"Bruce, you need to calm down buddy. We need to find-"

Hulk swatted at the annoying tin man lazily, pulling tables up he looked under them for Penny's familiar form. "Bruce not here." Frowning, he began to push chairs over as his search became more frantic, where did she go?

"Hulk! We've got to go find Pe-"

"Hulk find Penny!" He snarled and began moving people aside gently as he picked up more tables, throwing them carelessly over his shoulder a pile began to form on the now empty floor.

"What? Where is she?" Tony heaved a sigh of relief before he quickly dodged a flying table. "Hey! Watch it!" Hulk turned to face Tony when he ran out of tables and he looked into his eyes; instead of being bright green like he had imagined, they still held a tiny hint of brown.

Hulk frowned slightly and growled threateningly as he remembered him hitting her, "Puny God."

_Loki._

* * *

Penny's eyes fluttered open, groaning, her hand instinctively moved to her side. Feeling with her nimble fingers, she traced over the soft fabric of gauze as she tried to remember what had happened. Using all her energy she willed herself to remember who had taken her and where, but all she remembered was Loki , darkness and Bruce. _Bruce. _Tears formed in her eyes when she thought of how far away he must be.

She prayed that it had been the latter that had dressed her wound, but then if it had been, she thought that she would be on a comfier bed. Bracing herself for the pain, she propped herself up on an elbow to look around.

The room was small, it looked as though it had been painted grey in the past, but by the looks of it that was many years ago. Her bed was pushed against the wall and a glass of water sat on the floor next to her, reaching down she winced and grabbed the cool glass. Hastily gulping it down, she made to sit up. Letting her eyes flutter shut, her head rested against the wall.

"So you've finally awoke." Her eyes snapped open at the malicious voice, "I must apologise for my idiotic soldier who shot you, but I have no doubt that the Avengers have dealt with him." Her thoughts flashed to the man who asked her for a quick dance, training her eyes on Loki she narrowed her vision as fear set in her bones.

"Not in the talking mood I see?" He laughed dryly and stood tall in front of her. "Perhaps you'd like to talk to your precious beast instead?" Loki watched as her eyes grew just a tiny bit wider before narrowing again.

"I'll take that as a yes." He growled, and grabbed her roughly by the hair.

* * *

The Avengers and the three women had been taken aboard the newly repaired helicarrier; Pepper, Jane and Darcy had been shown their rooms and had been placed under high security. Thor and Tony had argued with Fury until he caved and agreed.

They sat around the table in silence, Steve couldn't believe how the night had gone so far. After S.H.I.E.L.D had arrived they managed to capture three men who were working with Loki, one of them was unconscious thanks to Tony. He could tell that Thor was glad that Jane hadn't been harmed, and he had made sure himself that Darcy was fine.

Glancing over at the two scientists he furrowed his brow in empathy; Tony had his hands folded neatly in front of him, his eyes quickly looked from his hands to focus on Steve. Steve gave a cut nod, and Tony returned to looking at his hands numbly.

Next to Tony sat Bruce, if Steve thought that the Doctor had looked bad when he changed back last time, then he looked ten times as worse now. Bruce's curly hair was sticking out carelessly in different directions and his palms rested on the table flatly. But what caused the tug Steve felt on his heart strings the most was his eyes.

Bruce stared unseeingly with his deep orbs as he replayed the scenes over and over again in his head. The way she danced with him, the way her lips felt against his, her laugh, and the way her eyes sparkled when he sang…..The way she fell lifelessly to the floor.

"Director," Everyone turned their head to the young man while Bruce paid him no mind. "We've got an incoming transmission."

"Well hello _Avengers_…" Snapping his head up Bruce clenched his fists as Loki's sneering face appeared on a screen.

Pushing his chair back he stood up, "Where's Penny?" He snarled and felt Tony place a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back in his seat.

Loki laughed intensely and gestured behind him as he stepped slightly to the side. Behind him sat a bloody Penny who had her arms and legs bound to the chair; her eye looked slightly swollen and bruised, and her mouth had a trail of blood leading down her chin. Her cheeks were flushed red along with the whites of her eyes from the tears. "Bruce!" She sobbed quickly, Loki quickly strode towards her and backhanded her to shut her up.

Clenching his jaw and fists Bruce began to put the calming techniques he had used over the years into use. He had mentally killed Loki four times in his head now, each death being slower and more painful than the last.

Laughing, Loki turned to face the camera again as he blocked their view of Penny. "It seems that I have something that _you_ want, and _I_ need. Say goodbye Avengers, to your pretty, _pretty_, Penny." Loki smirked as the screen faded to black.

Bruce let his head fall freely into his hands as he felt tears pickle at the edge of his eyes.

* * *

Turning around to face her he glanced her over, "Wh-what, what are you going to, to do-to me?" She managed to choke out between her sobs.

She ached all over and wanted nothing more than to just be back on the sofa at Stark Tower with her friends, just thinking about them made her head hurt and her eyes blur even more.

Loki untied her in silence and grabbed her forcefully by her wrist, leading her down the hallway he spoke quietly. "You _will_ create the Extremis virus, if you refuse," Loki stopped and pushed her up against the wall, pressing his body against hers she began to sob harder. "If you refuse…" He looked at her lips, "then you will be punished." He spat at her vehemently.

Stepping away abruptly he threw her back into her room and stormed off. Penny crawled into a ball on her bed and pulled her pillow to her tightly as her tears began to silently roll down her cheeks once more. If she wanted to survive then she needed to figure out what they were doing with the Extremis formula, and fast.

* * *

"What do we do?" Thor asked in his booming voice, fury paced as his mind began to work into overtime. They needed to act quickly if they were to save her, she was far too valuable to lose.

Facing the table he breathed in deeply, "Gentlemen, it's time to act."

**I know it's a little short, but I didn't want a huge ass chapter like the last one :P Please remember to review and leave me a little message, here's some virtual cookies for being so awesome ^^**

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	13. Chapter 13

**Not very long, but there's a lot of switching scenes and POV's in the previous chap and this one so I thought I'd make them a bit shorter so they flow a bit better :) Enjoy!**

Loki had his men set up a CCTV camera in the lab where the girl was working; Splayed out in front of him was her papers on the virus. If it hadn't been for that pathetic old man begging for help in that back alley, he would have never found out about this wonderfully delicious virus.

'_Programmed to do anything, cause anything.'_ The told him, and it was then that he knew he had to have it. The Chitauri would be waiting on the Tesseract, but as soon as he showed them what powers he could obtain through the use of both, he will surely be rewarded handsomely and no longer would he stand in the shadow of his oaf of a brother.

The scene before him shifted, as a remote wasteland replaced the clean angles of the security room.

"You're taking your time Odinson." The Other says slowly, pacing around a worn looking Loki.

"It's Laufeyson now," He corrected, "and I think that you will be pleasantly surprised with what I can do with just a bit more time. I could-"

"Thanos grows weary and tired of your games liesmith, if you are to claim Earth as your own then so be it. The armies grow restless, they thirst for war." Loki listened intensely as The Other circled him predatorily.

"Thanos has my sincerest apo-"

"_You do not speak his name!"_ The Other spat in his face as his jaw clenched tightly shut, "You're time is running out Loki of Asgard, and this time, your silver tongue won't be there to help you out."

Loki felt a surge of pain sweep his body as he found himself back in the security room. Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he headed for the lab.

* * *

Penny poured a steaming liquid in a tube and started her stopwatch, hearing the door open and then close again quietly, she turned around.

Loki was reclining on a chair with his boots on the table, "What is the Virus?" He asked curiously, his ever inquisitive mind needed to know not just what it could do, but how.

Penny sighed quietly as she remembered explaining a similar question to the Avengers, "It's a T.O." She answered curtly, not really wanting to give away anything she didn't have to she decided to stick to a plan.

"And that would be…?" Loki asked as he moved his wrist in a circular motion.

"A techno-organic virus." Came her short reply, picking up a vial of liquid she placed it over what was basically a high tech bunsen burner.

"Do not play smart with me woman!" Loki snarled, and Penny decided to give in with her plan if she wanted to stay on his good side.

"It means that the virus transforms organic material into techno-organic material. Techno-organic material basically resembles both machinery and living tissue." Spinning the dial on a machine that held everyday bacteria in, she continued. "All techno-organic cells function like independent machines and carry both the virus and all information on their carriers, including memories and appearance. This, you see, allows a techno-organic being to rebuild itself from a single cell when destroyed." She finished and pulled the bacteria from the machine carefully.

"And this is what the Extremis virus is?" He questioned further.

"The basis of it yeah, but there's a lot more than that and I don't really have time or the energy to explain it all to you." Sighing she turned to face him nervously, she picked at her thumb. "Why do you care how it works anyway? I thought you would just want to know that it worked, not the ins and outs of everything."

Standing up, Loki smiled somewhat politely at her. "That is where you're wrong though." His smile disappeared and he walked over to the door, standing half in and half out he turned back. "You're running out of time Miss Green. I suggest you try and hurry things along." He closed the door and headed for the security room again.

* * *

"We have to narrow the field." Bruce mumbled as he paced to the other side of the lab. "Tony," He looked over at the scientist, "send a message to Fury that we need to narrow the field."

Nodding with a pen in his mouth, he placed it down on the table and walked towards the door. "Already on it."

Taking his glasses off Bruce pinched his nose and looked out of the window at the stars. He had quickly lost track of what day or time it was, the only thing he knew was that it had been nearly 19 hours since the attack happened. 19 hours since he'd held her safely in his arms.

"You needed to see me, Doctor?" Fury's voice pulled him back into the room and he spun to face him. "Uh yeah, we need to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

Fury folded his arms, "How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking out-rhythm with a basic cluster mission; At least we can rule out a few places." Nodding, Fury relayed the message to someone on the other end of his earpiece.

Turning back to Bruce he frowned, "Do we know what he plans to do with her yet?" Bruce turned to face the stars again as he ignored the question; he decided that he found comfort in them. Knowing that at least she was under them too made him feel better, and the thought that she might even be looking at them too made him feel closer.

"Dr Banner I know this must be hard for you…" Bruce cleared his throat and turned around to face him again and answered his earlier question.

"I don't know, all we know is that it has to do with the Extremis Virus, we don't however know _how._" Pausing for breath, Bruce folded his arms as Tony walked back in.

"Without Penny here we're clutching at straws. We have no _idea_ how this thing works or what it's capable of. I've read through every known paper on it and there are no clues in there…" Glancing at Tony for backup he continued, "The only hope we have of finding her is if Loki has the Tesseract with him. If we find that, then we find Penny."

Nodding in thoughtful silence, Fury walked out without a word and left Bruce and Tony to their thoughts.

Tugging his phone out of his pocket he pressed the home screen and stared at the picture for a few minutes before Tony walked over. Quickly stuffing it in his pocket, he set to work again.

* * *

Wandering aimlessly about the lab she waited as the final stages were being completed. She found it quite curious that Loki only wanted one batch, she had thought that with his plans for world domination he'd want a ton of it, but no; just one batch.

And that led to the question that begged an answer; who was he going to use it on? Surely not one of his cronies, perhaps Loki himself? But she wasn't too sure whether it would actually work on Loki himself, after all, he was an Asgardian God, and although he looked relatively human Penny doubted that he had human like DNA. Without that, they the Extremis solution wouldn't work. It needed the human DNA to bind to and alter, she remembered when she'd tried it with a lab rat; it had no effect whatsoever.

Hearing the alarm go off, she quickly worked on removing the stoppered vial from the boiling blue liquid. Holding it up to eye level, she peered inside at the blue substance.

"It is complete?" Loki had silently stepped into the room, placing it in a cooling rack she nodded stiffly.

"I did as you asked, now let me go Loki." She gripped the edge of the table and kept her back to him, facing him and seeing that evil smirk on his disgusting face would be too much; especially when she was this close. This close to going home.

"Yes you did." Allowing herself a small smile she straightened up, "But that was only phase one of my plan. And I still need to test that it works…" He trailed off, spinning around quickly Penny looked him in the eyes.

"I can't guarantee that it will work on you, you're DNA would be different to that of a humans so-"

Loki's menacing laugh cut her off, her face contorted in confusion. Why was he laughing? Surely he would be angered, not amused at the foiling of his plan.

"I do not plan to use it on me you pathetic quim, I need it for a test subject." Seeing that she didn't fully understand he elaborated slightly. "You see, my plan was to use the Tesseract to open a portal to another world. The Chitauri were to come and win the Earth for me to rule, but now," His gaze flickered to Penny as he licked his lips.

"Now I have an even _greater_ plan. And it's all thanks to you Doctor." He began to slowly stalk towards her, Penny backed away and around the table as she kept her eyes trained on the God.

"As a token of my gratitude, I would like to make you the first ever honorary test subject for the Extremis Virus," Her eyes grew wide in fear as he lunged for her throat and pinned her to the wall.

Smiling gleefully he whispered into her ear, "You should be thanking me Doctor, isn't this what you wanted? Why you started in the first place? Why only simulate it when you can have the real thing?" Pulling back he stared into her wide, terrified eyes. "And the real thing you shall be."

**Muahahahaaa! XD Poor Penny, she's having a pretty crap time. I tried my best to write Loki as close to his character and personality as I could, so if he seems off that's because I struggled with him a bit :/ But stay tuned folks!**

**-Readers Assemble!-**


	14. Not a Chapter!

_**Not a chapter!**_

**Hey guys! I just wanted to apologize for taking a while to get to writing, but this past week or so has been really hectic, I've been ill and I've moved house, plus I treated myself to a Kindle so I've been playing on that ^^**

**Don't worry though, I haven't forgotten about this! The next chapter should be up by Sunday at the latest, so make sure to keep your eyes out ;) **

**Love you all, GrumpyBadger13**

**Xx**


	15. Sincerest Apology

_**PLEASE DON'T ASSINATE ME! :'(**_

Okay, so I think I owe you guys a HUGE apology that won't even fit on your screen, but I will try my best! So here goes;

I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so SORRY! :'(

I've been super busy and stressed for what feels like forever. I've started a new job, and I've taken way too many exams for one person, my uncle's died, and just…Ugh. You probably won't read this far down, but I think I should type it anyway just so that you understand, and understand that I _**HAVEN'T**_ abandoned the story.

So like I said in the last authors note, I've moved house. So that took a while to sort out, and then once the dust had settled from that my Uncle had a heart attack and was in critical condition for a few days before he passed away. So naturally, I wasn't in the right place to write anything and yes, I should have told you guys and I have no excuse for not at least telling you, but…Better late than never eh?

I had my exams before I broke up for my summer holidays, and I studied so hard for them so I had no spare time for writing, and then during the holidays I got a job to help pay towards moving out. Last month I got my results, and to say they were bad would be an understatement…I got DEU. To say that I bawled my eyes out for days would be putting it lightly, and I've just started college again and everything's getting back on track.

Hopefully you won't see this as one big excuse, which to me is what it feels like. But I have genuinely had a really rough past few months. I am truly sorry for not updating in so long, I promise the next chapter should be up **tonight or tomorrow night** :(

I hope you all continue reading to see if Bruce and Penny work things out, and I can promise you now, the best hasn't even begun 3

Love to you all, you deserve a medal if you've read this far down.

GrumpyBadger13 x


	16. Chapter 14

Penny's eyes slowly opened, weary and tired from being shut for 3 days, they were taking their time to readjust. Everything was blurry, just a mass of colour. Penny couldn't tell whether she'd been put on some kind of pain relieving drug or she just felt so real again to be awake that everything looked so beautiful; just as a mass of colours. Blobs started to gain angles, and splodges morphed into objects.

Feeling exhausted, she slowly moved her eyes to look down at herself; she was in a hospital style gown, covered in a few thick looking blankets. She _looked _normal…But she knew better than anyone that after being injected with the Extremis Virus you were no longer normal. But even that doesn't last very long, not with the past trials anyway.

There was always one part of the Extremis Experiment that she never told anyone, not even her partner, not even the Avengers. She'd kept it safe and locked in her mind, out of her published work she felt that it was safe. After all, if someone had all the information then they could do some serious harm. When she first discovered that the key to activating the Extremis Virus successfully was human DNA, she was delighted to say the least. She had a number of applications from hopefuls who wanted to have it tested out on them, but she chose carefully and wisely. She chose 4, and only 4.

2 men, and 2 women. All had varying blood types, all were different and diverse. She tested the men first, the first man didn't make it through the process; but the second one did. The second man lived for 3 days after he emerged from the cocoon of scabs, leaving a pregnant wife behind after he died from his body failing; but not before his sanity was lost along with him.

The women were more successful, although both never made it past a week. The first woman died on the sixth day, whilst training to use her new found powers with Penny. The memory still haunts her at times, how one minute they were talking. Just talking. And how the next, she began to bleed. From _everywhere._ She never did like the colour red, but after it stained everything that day, she's never hated it more.

The second died peacefully in her sleep; both of them left young children behind. But she never understood why, she never grasped why it killed them. Why it didn't work…and that itself killed her more than anything.

Penny couldn't help but think about it all as she waited to wake from her sleep, her brain was still functioning as if she was awake but her body was completely shut off. After the initial experiments she vowed to never let the Extremis Virus to be used again, not after taking mothers and fathers away from their children and families. Not after seeing the pain those people went through. She couldn't help but feel that this was her way of paying a debt for all the hurt that she's caused people because of this, because of an idea. The mothers, the fathers, the husbands and wives, the children and families, friends, Bruce, Tony, Steve, Thor…All of them.

She mentally cringed as her concentration was broken by another wave of pain. Her body felt like a million tiny knifes were fighting to burst from inside her, and a reoccurring force pushing its way in…Her debt was being paid.

* * *

Loki sat in what he had started to call his 'office'. The humans knew to never enter without permission, and to never disturb him when the door was shut; they'd learnt that the hard way. Her body was starting to emerge from the mass of scabs that she had been caged in for the past 3 days, it wouldn't be long before she would be waking up and discovering herself once again.

Thanos was growing more and more weary by the day, as is the army…But Loki grinned as he thought about his plan and how perfectly things were going, and it's only the beginning.

Standing up abruptly as an image pulled him from his thoughts, he glanced at the screen before marching down to meet the shiny new Penny.

* * *

"Hello, sleeping beauty." Penny flung her eyes open and tried to run, her arms and legs flailed about as she remained still. Looking down quickly she saw her wrists and ankles had been strapped to the table. Her tired eyes scanned for the owner of the voice, for Loki.

He stepped towards the bed and sat down on an old Eames chair, "You've been asleep for a while now, 3 days as a matter of fact. And I do have to say," His eyes raked across her face and skin, Penny could feel her skin crawl. "you do look radiant."

Her face contorted in disgust, which earned a smirk from the Demi God, "Well, I'm sure you're just dying to know what we have in store for you, am I right?" He smiled in mock politeness at her as he stood up and snatched a folder from a table. Penny narrowed her eyes at his figure as he paced, her throat felt dry and sore like sandpaper and her body ached with every breath she took.

His eyes read a piece of paper lazily, before smiling over at a tired Penny every now and then. "You are going to be a special one, aren't you?" Loki placed the booklet back down, before stalking over to sit on the side of her bed. They stared at each other, malice and hate written in her features while joy and humour was written on his.

Loki's hand moved a piece of hair from Penny's face, before it reached down to stroke her cheek. He smiled gently, "You'll discover it all in time, it would take the fun out of it if I just told you, wouldn't it?" His head cocked to the side in question as she stared him down. Penny didn't respond, she simply glared at him.

His hand fell from her cheek as his smile drifted from his face. Standing up he walked to the door, "I will tell you this now human, this will _not_ be easy for you. You will _not_ have an easy ride. And you are definitely _not _going back to your precious Avengers!" And with that, Loki slammed the door and stormed down the hall.

Penny didn't make a sound. She didn't speak. She didn't even sigh. She just let the silent, salty tears fall from her worn green eyes as her heart broke in despair.

**…I know, its such a filler. But I don't want you guys to miss out on the whole process, so I thought I'd wack it in there anyway. I know it's not the best, but bear with me. I haven't wrote in months! Hope to hear what you guys think soon, and your ideas for what Loki's plan is :) Remember, review!**

**-ReadersAssemble!-**


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